Taylor Brown, whose novel-in-progress Rise, River, Rise rose to the top of the applicant pool for the 2026 John Updike Tucson Casitas Fellowship, is now at the casitas where Updike worked in a number of genres and famously described losing a favorite hat in the parking lot (“A Desert Encounter,” The New Yorker, Oct. 13, 2008). The two-week residency is made possible by the generosity of owners Jan and Jim Emery, who rent the casitas for much of the year. See the Grants, Scholarships & Awards page for details about next year’s competition.