Welcome back Bleah! Last time we spoke, you were getting ready to leave for New York for three months to intern for the National Book Foundation. Now you’re back and starting off your third and final year of grad school! I’m sure you’ve got lots to tell us, so let’s get right in! How does it feel to be back in Texas! Hi Brianna! It feels good, I mean this is my home. So it was nice to come back to my own space and family.

I can imagine, one summer can feel like a lifetime in a big city all by yourself! So, how was living in New York for the summer like? Did you do a lot of sightseeing? Have any local favorites you want to tell us about? It was really wonderful. I had the opportunity to visit amazing museums like the Met, The Whitney, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I also saw the Brooklyn and New York Libraries which were stunning and incredible. I was able to attend a lot of events, both through literary friends of mine, and an award ceremony that NBF was hosting. It was filled with a lot of art, readings, and plenty of time to read my long list of summer books.

Sounds like you had a great time overall! How was the community environment working for the foundation? Did you make any friends? I worked with two other interns who I had the pleasure of befriending. We had a lot of comradery and really enjoyed working together! The staff of NBF was also incredibly helpful and kind throughout the entire summer.

What kinds of opportunities did you get while working for NBF? I was able to help with a lot of projects related to the awards ceremony they’ll be hosting in November, I did a lot of research and data organizing. I was also able to dip my toes in writing reports that would later be used for grants, and seeing first hand how programs are organized. They also had a literary award ceremony during the summer that I was able to work and attend.

Last time you said you wanted to learn more about grant writing and fundraising. Did you get to do that? I did! And I’m so excited to be interning with a non profit press over the fall semester in their fundraising and grant writing program, thanks to the experience I got at NBF. The staff at NBF was so attentive and helpful about teaching us things and letting us shadow them in areas we were interested in.

What else did you learn? I learned a lot about how non profit community organizations are maintained, how relationships are built, and what it takes to keep them running.

What did a regular day look like for you? What was your normal schedule? I worked three days a week, so from 9:30-5:30 I was working on various archival, data entry, report summarizing, and other projects throughout the day. The other days I was able to explore the city. We all worked closely together, and one of the most fun things we were able to do was unpacking all of the (literally!) thousands of books that had been submitted for the awards. It was so fun to see new titles, some haven’t even been released to the public yet!

Where did you stay in New York? I stayed right in Washington Square Park in the NYU dorms. It was really beautiful and a great central location.

What was your favorite part about interning for the foundation? I’ve never had an internship that took so much care to make sure we were learning, getting something out of the program, and helping us adapt those skills we learned into language that could be used on resumes for future jobs. They really cared about helping us advance and grow.

How did being in the MFA program here at SHSU help you prepare for the internship? I’m grateful for the extensive amount of help the MFA program has provided through professors who really care about their students. Through our portfolio requirement, I was able to write cover letters, resumes, and practice interviewing that I do think helped a lot in preparing me for getting the internship. Additionally, working with organizations like TRP definitely instilled a work ethic for literature and office culture that prepared me for NBF as well.

Well it sounds like you had an amazing time over the summer, which is great to hear! For our final questions, is there any advice you can give to future SHSU NBF interns? Totally! It’s going to be what you make of it! So don’t be afraid to ask questions and make it known that you have interests you’d like to explore because they’re accommodating in letting you do that.

Bleah Patterson
National Book Foundation Intern 2024