When writer Vivian Kirkfield lost her husband on May 5th, 2018, a group of her friends and family joined together to fund a Highlights Foundation scholarship in his name. They chose the Foundation because of our mission to serve writers and illustrators, as a way to honor Stuart’s support of Vivian as a children’s author–but also because of our natural setting and fly-fishing opportunities, since Stuart was a lifetime bamboo fly-fishing aficionado and the author of The Fine Bamboo Fly Rod: A Master’s Secrets of Restoration and Repair.

Stuart Kirkfield was an educator and financial guide to many. In addition to being a self-taught artisan, restoring fine bamboo fly rods and antique fountain pens, painting in watercolor and writing in calligraphy, he was Vivian’s sounding board for every single story before her critique partners saw it. He played a big role in her burgeoning writing career.

Vivian Kirkfield is constantly taking leaps of faith—she jumped from a perfectly good plane with her son, hiked to the summit of Pikes Peak with her husband, and parasailed over the Pacific Ocean with only seagulls for company. Passionate about helping kids become lovers of books by bringing history alive for young readers, Vivian is excited about her four picture books launching in 2019: Four Otters Toboggan: An Animal Counting Book (PomegranateKids, Spring 2019), Pippa’s Passover Plate (Holiday House, Spring 2019), Sweet Dreams, Sarah (Creston Books, Fall 2019), and From Here to There: Inventions that Changed the Way We Move (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Fall, 2019).

Get more information about the scholarship process and apply here.