Contributed by S. Kalekar
Grants, Residencies and Fellowships
This is a list of varied fellowships, grants and residencies offered for writers and journalists – in France, Italy and Germany, in rural, tranquil settings in the US and prestigious universities, including Harvard and Princeton. There are opportunities for early, mid-career and established writers, poets and journalists, and for writers needing emergency funds. Most awards come with cash prizes, ranging from a few hundred dollars to $162,000.
Bitch Media Fellowships
This feminist zine offers four fellowships: in pop-culture criticism, sexual politics, technology and global feminism. These are three-month writing fellowships to develop and support emerging, diverse voices; fellows will write six online articles and one long-form article. Value: $2,000 for each of the four fellowships
Deadline: 31 August 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Fear No Lit: The Submerging Writer Fellowship
This is for writers who have the chops, but lack the luck.
Value: $1,000 ($500 for attending AWP, and $500 to spend as they like), and a chapbook
Deadline: 31 August 2017
Open for: Writers not in a PhD/MFA program, who have not had a book published and have won no major awards
Details here.
Innovation in Development Reporting Grant
This project is operated by the European Journalism Centre and supported by the Bill and Melina Gates Foundation. The grant seeks to fund original reporting on issues related to food production and food security, health and nutrition, and food trade and markets. The guidelines detail which countries to report from, and which countries’ media the funded reports should appear in. The judging focus for pitches will be on editorial focus and quality, impact and reach, and innovation. Writers can submit more than one pitch, and develop multiple stories for various media outlets. Both organizations and individuals may apply.
Value: 10-20 grants of €10,000-20,000 each
Deadline: 6 September 2017
Open for: Journalists worldwide; see guidelines for which organizations are ineligible
Details here.
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council: Creative Engagement Grants
These grants, for artists in Manhattan including writers, must have a public component, and the public activity must be in Manhattan. Artists can apply individually to access City funding or team up with organizations to access State funding.
Value: $750-8,000
Deadline: 12 September 2017
Open for: Manhattan writers
Details here.
Radcliffe Fellowships
These prestigious fellowships at the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University are for those engaged in the creative arts and humanities. It is for writers, poets, screenwriters and journalists of exceptional promise.
Value: $77,500 with additional funds for project expenses, residency and some relocation costs where necessary
Deadline: 14 September 2017
Open for: All writers; see guidelines for publishing history requirements
Details here.
Clean Energy Wire: Grant for Energy and Climate Journalism Beyond Borders
This is for collaborative work between at least two mediapersons in different organizations and different countries. Pitches should focus on the transition to clean energy, climate policy and the shift to low-carbon economy.
Value: Grants of €4,000-6,000; awards ceremony attendance in Germany for three teams, and awards of €6,000, €5,000 and €4,000
Deadline: 15 September 2017
Open for: Journalists worldwide
Details here.
PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writers Fellowship
This award is for a work-in-progress by a children’s/young author writer, who is in financial need and has had at least one children’s/YA book published in the US – the novel must have been warmly received by critics, but not generated a sufficient income to support the author. The judges will be looking for candidates whose work has not yet got broad readership. No graphic novels or picture books.
Value: $5,000
Deadline: 15 September 2017
Open for: Children’s/YA fiction writers in financial need, who have had at least one book published by a US publisher
Details here.
Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen Scholarship
These are residential and working scholarships for artists, including writers. There is no age limit. About 10 scholarships are awarded in literature each year.
Value: €1,025/month (less apartment, telephone and electricity costs), and 2-6 month residency at Schöppingen, Germany
Deadline: 15 September 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Princeton University: Hodder Fellowship
This fellowship is for artists, including writers and poets, who show exceptional promise. Fellows spend an academic year at Princeton, and no teaching duties are attached; the fellowship provides them with studious leisure to undertake significant new work. Applicants usually have a first book published.
Value: $81,000, residency
Deadline: 19 September 2017
Open for: All writers; usually writers have had a first book published
Details here.
The Princeton Arts Fellowship
This prestigious fellowship is for early-career artists, including poets, novelists and playwrights. Fellows must teach one course each semester, but can take up an artistic assignment in lieu of a class.
Value: $81,000 per year ($162,000 for the two-year residency)
Deadline: 19 September 2017
Open for: All writers, except PhD holders from Princeton
Details here.
Cullman Centre Fellowship
This is for writers whose project draws on the collection housed in The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Value: $70,000 and residency
Deadline: 29 September 2017
Open for: All writers except those associated with the New York Public Library (see guidelines for details)
Details here.
Knight Visiting Nieman Fellowships
These fellowships at Harvard offer research opportunities to those interested in working on special projects designed to advance journalism in a new way. Applicants need not be journalists but the proposed project topic has to relate to the above.
Value: $1,225 per week for writers not supported by employers, and residency of a few weeks to three months
Deadline: 29 September 2017
Open for: All journalists, and others interested in the topic
Details here.
The American Academy in Berlin Fellowship
Approximately 20 Berlin Prizes are conferred annually. It is open for writers and journalists; poets are invitation-only. Candidates should explain the relevance of a stay in Berlin to the development of their work.
Value: $5,000 monthly stipend, airfare, and residency in Berlin
Deadline: 29 September 2017
Open for: Published US residents; US citizenship is not required
Details here.
- Blundell Trust Award
This is for young published British writers who need funding for travel, research or other expenses. The work must contribute to the greater understanding of existing social and economic organisation.
Value: £2,000-4,000
Deadline: 30 September 2017
Open for: British writers under 40 who have had one book published
Details here.
The Authors’ Foundation Grants
These are grants for authors in need whose works of fiction, non-fiction or poetry have been commissioned by a British publisher, or those who have had at least one book published by a British publisher and there is a strong likelihood that the next work will be published in Britain. All applicants will also be automatically considered for specific grants covering: biography about women, the environment and natural history, philanthropy, poetry, racial understanding, Scandinavia, science fiction, fantasy and magic realism (including children’s writers), spy thrillers and crime.
Value: £3,000-3,500, occasionally £5,000-6,000
Deadline: 30 September 2017
Open for: Those who have work commissioned by, or publication history with, a British publisher
Details here.
The Bellagio Arts & Literary Arts Residency
This residency, by The Rockefeller Foundation, affords time to create work on the tranquil shores of Lake Como, Italy. All fiction and non-fiction writers, playwrights and poets, who share the foundation’s vision of promoting the well-being of humankind and whose work relates to or is inspired by global or social issues, can apply. See their guidelines for detailed work sample and recommendation letter requirements.
Value: Residency at The Bellagio Center, Italy of up to one month
Deadline: Applications accepted from 1 October 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Wellstone Centre in the Redwoods Writing Fellowship
This is a two-week fellowship in California for emerging writers on a property that is on the verge of a forest. Preference will be give to writers with at least one book published with a major publisher.
Value: Two weeks’ residency
Deadline: 1 October 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.
American Antiquarian Society: Fellowships for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers
The Society is calling for applications for visiting fellowships for historical research by creative and performing artists, including writers and children’s writers, poets and journalists who wish to produce works dealing with pre-twentieth-century American history. The award includes a stipend and a four-week residency at the Society at Worcester, Massachusetts.
Value: $1,850 (from which room fee of $500-700 will be deducted if staying on campus), and residency
Deadline: 5 October 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Scholarships
This is for any poet of American birth who is willing to spend one year outside the continent of North America.
Value: Approximately $58,000
Deadline: 15 October 2017
Open for: Any poet of American birth or of birth outside the US to a US citizen parent
Details here.
The Camargo Core Program
Residencies are awarded to 18 fellows annually (artists and scholars/thinkers), including writers and translators. Applicants should have a publication and/or grant track record. Residencies are for 6-11 weeks, in spring and fall.
Value: $250 a week and residency at Cassis, France; basic coach class airfare, if booked far in advance
Deadline: 17 October 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
The Cultural Diaspora: African-American and African Playwrights Creative Residency at the Camargo Foundation
This is for mid-career African and African-American Playwrights (playwrights being broadly defined). Participants must have had at least three texts/plays fully produced for public audiences. Four-week residencies are awarded to eight fellows.
Value: $2,000, plane fare, local transport and Residency at Cassis, France
Deadline: 19 October 2017
Open for: Mid-career African and African-American playwrights
Details here and here.
Writers Omi Residency
This residency allows writers the time to write in a rural setting. It has an impressive alumni list, including Booker, PEN/Faulkner Award and Commonwealth Prize winners.
Value: Residency of one week to two months at Ledig House, overlooking the Catskill Mountains
Deadline: 20 October 2017
Open for: Published writers
Details here.
Morland Writing Scholarships
This fellowship buys African writers the time to write a book. The proposal should for a new project, not a work-in-progress, and for adult fiction or non-fiction. Children’s books, short story collections, film scripts, plays or poetry do not qualify. Scholars must send 10,000 words at the end of each month to the board. They are also asked to donate 20% of earnings from sales of what they have written in the scholarship period to the Miles Morland Foundation; this is a moral obligation, not a legally binding one.
Value: £18,000 for fiction projects, paid over 12 months; potentially £27,000 for non-fiction, paid over 18 months; potential mentoring by an established author or publisher
Deadline: 31 October 2017
Open for: African writers or writers of African origin who have been published previously
Details here and here.
Patrick Henry Writing Fellowship
Applicants should have a significant book-length work currently in progress. The project should address the history and/or legacy of the American Revolution and America’s founding ideas. Fellows have teaching duties, and must conduct a public lecture or workshop related to their work.
Value: $45,000 and residency
Deadline: 1 November 2017
Open for: Published writers
Details here.
The Haven Foundation Grants
This grant covers artists, including freelance professional writers, and offers them financial support though a difficult period of injury, illness or mishap.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: 4 November 2017
Open for: Legal US residents
Details here.
The Society of Authors’ grants for writers in need
The Society makes occasional grants to writers in financial need. The Frances Head Bequest is for professional writers under 35 born in mainland UK or Northern Ireland. The John Marsfield Memorial Trust provides grant to British poets or their dependents who are faced with financial problems. The Margaret Rhondda Awards are for women journalists in needy circumstances. The assessment process for all takes two to three weeks.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: Rolling
Open for: UK writers under 35, British poets or their dependents, women journalists
Details here.
Woodcock Fund for Canadian writers
This is a quick-access and last-resource emergency resource for Canadian writers who face unforeseen financial crisis. Screenwriting, journalism, formulistic romance writing or journalism are not eligible.
Value: CAD2,000-10,000
Deadline: Rolling
Open for: Canadian citizens or residents engaged in a book-length work
Details here.
Writers Emergency Assistance Fund
This is for established freelance non-fiction writers who have an emergency. Writers must have a record of past professional freelance nonfiction writing over a sustained period.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: Rolling
Open for: Established freelance non-fiction writers facing illness, disability, natural disaster or extraordinary professional crisis
Details here.
