HARDWICK – The Vermont Art Council (VAC) has announced the 26 recipients of its most competitive grant funding program, the “Creation Grant”, which supports Vermont artists in creating new work. Among these recipients is Brett Stanciu of Hardwick, for the creation of the novel “Save Town Hall”. She received $5,000 in funding.
To some, Stanciu is known as treasurer for the town of Greensboro. The author of three novels, others know her from her previous literary ventures. Stanciu’s essays and fiction have appeared in publications like The Rumpus, Memoir Monday, 101 Word Story, Vermont Almanac, Taproot, Vermont Literary Review, The Long Story and The Seraphic Review.
In discussing her upcoming work, “Save Town Hall”, Stanciu provided some insight on her journey with writing, as well as where and how she takes inspiration for her creative works.
“I actually received a previous creation grant, and I think it was in 2019. I used that to write my second book, “Unstiched”, and I was super grateful for it. I applied and sent it in actually a couple days before my final round of chemo wrap, and I was like I just have to do this,” said Stanciu.
More than 300 applications were received for this highly competitive award, with a total of nearly $1.5 million requested in funding. The council was able to support 9% of the requested need, totaling $126,000 in grant funding. Recipients were selected in two rounds by independent panels of 47 practicing Vermont artists and arts professionals with a broad range of artistic disciplines. A total of 48 proposals advanced to the second round of review, Stanciu among them.
Grants were awarded to Vermont artists or artist groups in amounts up to $5,000, “It’s a request for time, essentially, to do creative work. For which I’m extremely grateful. I know these are extremely competitive grants, and they’re really meaningful. They do make a big difference to people.”
Stanciu’s writing journey has been lifelong, “I always knew I wanted to write. My dad was a professor, and he was a writer as well too. I studied writing, it’s an undergraduate, and then graduate school.” She attended Marlboro College in Vermont, before earning her graduate degree at Western Washington University in Bellingham. “Then I left the academic world. I was not interested in pursuing that and then I just got busy in life.”
Mother of two, she spent several years as a maple syrup maker, “We sugared for years, had a couple of kids. Along the way, I ended up writing a novel.”
That first novel, “Hidden View”, explores themes of isolation, relationships and the relentless dedication required for rural agriculture.
Stanciu’s second novel is a nonfiction composite of addiction stories with a local focus, “That was a book I didn’t intend to write, but I kind of happened into that scenario and I was really, really driven to write that book. Because I really wanted to know the questions, too, answers about what’s happening in this little community I live in.”
Describing the genre as her initial love, Stanciu has returned to fiction with her third novel, “Call It Madness.” The book will be available June next year with Regal House Publishing. “Call It Madness” explores family and how hidden secrets can shape our lives.
She provided more insight on her perspective, “So when you look at writing, there’s always certain themes that go through. One of the things that always goes through my writing is this notion of creation versus destruction, and how we use our skills in our own lives, and how we interact with others. And that very much relates to the world we live in, because the world is always engaged in creation and destruction.”
Stanciu begins her creative process in the very early morning, with the goal of writing at least one thousand words a day. With an idea in mind, developing into a story, she works hard to establish the first draft. “As I write, I work very hard with the bones of it, the skeleton of the book, and then rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.”
Her upcoming work, “Save Town Hall,” may sound familiar to Greensboro residents. “All writers pick up ideas from other places, and this one I picked up on the way into work.”
Elaborating, she explained that while the novel is entirely fiction, the idea comes from her very real experience working in the town hall building as treasurer, and moreover the sometimes divisive conversations about property in the state.
“I’ve lived in Vermont since I was eighteen, and it got me thinking about what’s happening in our little towns, and it’s also reflective of what’s happening nationally as well. Fiction is a way to explore these really complicated ideas in real subtlety and real depth. So what I see happening in the little towns we live in now, is there’s an increasing division among people, which way is Vermont going to go?”
She elaborated further, “There are groups of people who have very different ideas about how that’s going to shake out or play out. It’s very much an argument and a debate about property, and about money and about class. These are all very complicated American notions that work out in individual lives, in ways that are really meaningful.”
Stanciu says the idea behind her book is to take a kernel of a story set in contemporary Vermont, intending to be an examination of where the state is now.
Reflecting on the past couple of months, Stanciu says there’s one part of the creative process she enjoys the most, “The real gem of working creatively is really insight. I feel that if you’re really working hard, there’s a level of devotion to that or level of craft that makes you reflect on your own life. But yet at the same time, also a really profound connection to the world too.
“That’s one of the things that I rely on, writing is really what got me through cancer in many ways, because it’s really the way that I know the world best, but I know the world only through, really through, examination. What does this mean? What does this mean? What does this mean? It’s always questioning. Then by the time you get to the end of writing a book, you have all these questions, but hopefully they’re ordered in some kind of way. They’re brought together in some sort of way that’s beautiful, but also reflects the beauty of the world and sometimes ugliness, too.”
Raymonda Parchment is a Hardwick Gazette reporter. She recently graduated from Vermont State University - Castleton with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She is a strong supporter of freedom of speech, and the right to publish information, opinions, and ideas without censorship or restraint. She is a lifelong lover of the written word, and is excited to join the team as a staff member.
