(Amherst, Mass. July 14, 2026)—Award-winning, international literary journal The Common announced today that Ben Tamburri ’27 will be the fourth recipient of the David Applefield ’78 Fellowship. The fellowship, the magazine’s first endowed student internship, was established in 2022 by the friends and family of David Applefield, a literary polymath who attended Amherst College and founded Frank, an eclectic English-language literary magazine based in Paris.
The David Applefield ’78 Fellowship annually funds one student intern who possesses exceptional editorial and leadership skills to work alongside the magazine’s other student interns and magazine staff on editorial and promotional assignments. Among other responsibilities, the Applefield Fellow coordinates Weekly Writes, an accountability program for creative writers; leads the Level I section of the Young Writers Program for high school students; and provides research and production support for podcasts. In addition, the Applefield Fellow trains and mentors other interns, and organizes events for the Amherst College community.
Ben Tamburri ’27 begins the position after a year as an editorial assistant and with a background in peer tutoring and volunteering with local libraries. His writing has received multiple awards from the Amherst English department, and his dispatch, “On the Shores of Baileys Harbor,” was published online at The Common. During his final year at Amherst, he plans to write a series of short stories about the connections between generations for his senior thesis. He is currently helping to revamp The Common’s book reviews section.
Tamburri thanks the more than fifty friends, classmates, and family members of David Applefield who contributed to the fellowship fund for their generosity and trust, as well as the magazine’s staff for their mentorship. “Working for The Common has opened a new, exciting way for me to engage with literature,” Tamburri said. “I’m so grateful to be able to continue supporting its mission and the community it has created through serving as the new Applefield Fellow.”
About The Common
The Common is a print and digital literary journal based at Amherst College. Issues of The Common include fiction, essays, poems and images that embody a strong sense of place. Since its debut in 2011, The Common has published more than 1,500 authors from 56 countries. Pieces from The Common have been awarded the O. Henry Prize, the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Award for Emerging Writers, and have been selections and notable mentions in multiple genres in the prestigious Best American series. Each spring, The Common features a rich portfolio of Arabic fiction in translation, introducing English-language readers to new and exciting voices from across the Middle East and North Africa. The journal’s editorial vision and design have been praised in The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, Slate, The Millions, Orion Magazine, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Beyond mentoring undergraduates, The Common supports educators from high school to graduate levels through The Common in the Classroom and hosts summer writing courses for high school students via The Common Young Writers Program. Read more about the magazine’s programs here.
