by
Brooklyn poet Casey Rocheteau, 29, will pack up her Crown Heights apartment and move here in November as the inaugural Write a House giveaway, organizers announce Thursday morning.
"We are giving her a house, to keep, forever! We are so excited to welcome this tremendously talented writer to Detroit," board member Anna Clark says on Facebook.
Casey Rocheteau: " I look forward to exploring Detroit and getting to know its literary community." (Facebook photo)
The nonprofit writer's residency program, in partnership with Young Detroit Builders, renovated a vacant home just north of Hamtramck. Roughly 350 applications flowed in from novelists, journalists, other nonfiction writers and poets across the country and beyond.
“I am elated to have been chosen,” a news release quotes the winner as saying. “Being granted with this opportunity to take root in a city so rich with history, creativity and tenacity is truly an honor. I look forward to exploring Detroit and getting to know its literary community.”
Rocheteau has recorded two spoken word albums of her work, which is published in "Knocked Up On Yes," a 2012 small press release. She reads "Teen Age Dream" from that collection in the video below.
“Casey’s work stood out for the judges,” program co-founder Toby Barlow says in the release. "It’s easy to see why: Her poetry absolutely breaks through. We’re looking forward to having that voice come express itself in Detroit.”
Judges picked her over nine other finalists announced three weeks ago.
The poet will live in this northeast Detroit home, shown before renovations ended. (Write a House photo)
Billy Collins, a former U.S. poet laureate, was among the screeners. “These are witty but deeply serious poems,” Collins writes in his evaluation, according to the release. “The poet uses straightforward language and clear syntax to address some of the more frightening aspects of racism.”
A new round of applications opens in early 2015 for the giveaway's next two houses, located in the same Banglatown/No Ham neighborhood where Rocheteau will live. Entry details are here.
Earlier at Deadline Detroit:
One of These 10 Writers Will Soon Get a Free Home in Detroit to Keep Forever, Aug. 28
