Sara Hovda, a student in the Master of Fine Arts program at UC Riverside, has won the 2026 Trio Award for her debut poetry manuscript, “Night’s Grammar.” “I was honestly beside myself,” Hovda said.
Erika Villeroy da Costa, a graduate student in critical dance studies at UC Riverside, has been awarded a 2026 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship. Da Costa will use the $52,000 grant to support her research on first-generation members of the Afro-Brazilian dance troupe Balé Folclórico Mercedes Baptista.
Allison Benis White’s most recent poetry collection, “A Magnificent Loneliness,” was awarded the 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry. “This recognition of ‘A Magnificent Loneliness’ is what writers dream about," White said. "And I’m grateful to represent UC Riverside, and our Creative Writing Department, with this honor.”
