Chaikin Award Winners
Cassandra Long
Jeffrey Solomon

The Miriam Chaikin Endowment Fund

The Fund for the writing award was established in 2016 in memory of Miriam Chaikin, a longtime Westbeth resident, former Westbeth Artists Residents Council Literary Arts Chair, and prolific writer.

For Miriam, the written word and the book were essential to her life and well-being. It is in her memory that we seek to honor a member of the writing community, especially those writers who live in Westbeth.

Cassandra Long, poetry

Cassandra Long is a writer, painter, and illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York. Many of her stories are inspired by working with kids as a schoolteacher in both Boston and New York City. She is currently at work on a children’s book about her time as a teacher, as well as a book of illustrated stories titled Me Imagining Holding a Baby While Imagining Dropping the Imaginary Baby While Still Holding It.

Jeffrey Solomon, prose

Jeffrey Solomon’s coming out and coming of age memoir, The Tourist, is his first work of long-form prose. He is currently finishing up his MFA in creative writing at Goddard College. He is the founder of Houses on the Moon Theater Company (HOTM); the playwright and director of Houses’ productions of Building Houses on the Moon and De Novo (59E59 Theaters and Next Door at NYTW); and the playwright of Tara’s Crossing (Tenement Theatre).

He has taught HOTM’s storytelling workshops with underserved communities, co-curating and directing the story-based theater projects. His one-man show The Santa Closet (originally titled Santa Clause Is Coming Out) won the Best of the Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival (2002), had its off-Broadway debut at the Kirk Theatre on Theatre Row (2009), and was revived in 2019 by Houses on the Moon at Teatro Circulo. His other solo play, MotherSON, has had acclaimed runs at HERE (New York City), the Oval House (UK), and Theatre Works (Melbourne, Australia), and has been presented as an educational and support tool around LGBTQ+ and human rights issues in India, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Solomon wrote the pilot episode for Jim Henson/ABC-TV program CityKids, which was Emmy-nominated for Best Children’s Special.

More Information About the Fund

Miriam Chaikin Writing Award