Saint Vincent senior gets Iowa writers scholarship

A Saint Vincent College senior from Belle Vernon, whose professors challenged her to be a “curious learner” and take risks, is extending her education at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in Iowa City.

Mallory Truckenmiller, a graduate of Belle Vernon Area High School, is receiving a no-teaching fellowship and a full scholarship to the Master of Fine Arts program in literary translation, a two-year program.

Truckenmiller, an English major at Saint Vincent, said she found her love of literary translation after enrolling in Spanish literature courses. She was introduced to Latin American and Iberian literature through those courses.

“There were so many wonderful authors and pieces that I never had access to or even knew about. I absolutely fell in love,” Truckenmiller said.

Truckenmiller is a brilliant writer and translator who is “passionate and tenacious,” said Dennis McDaniel, chairman of the college’s English department and Truckenmiller’s adviser.

Truckenmiller will have the opportunity to work with significant writers from around the world and get experience as a publishing literary translator, said Michelle Gil-Montero, associate professor of English at Saint Vincent and an alumna of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Truckenmiller said her professors challenged her “to embrace new and difficult perspectives, to rework that paper just one more time … and to always expect more for myself.”