Pursue Your Writing Project with a Grant or Fellowship

Are you a writer looking to apply for a grant? Here are a few opportunities you might be interested in that we are sharing for our Application Week series.

We’ve compiled a list of grants (and a couple fellowships) for those who are looking for some financial support for their writing endeavors. Grants offer funding for a particular project, while fellowships can provide funding as well as resources and community. Take a look at these opportunities that are currently, or will soon be, accepting applications.

Barbara Deming Memorial Fund

• Deadline: January 1, 2023-January 31, 2023

• Eligibility: Self-identify as a woman; primary residence in US or Canada; has a nonfiction or poetry project that is underway with substantial work to show

• Funding: $500-$1500

• Application Materials: $25 application fee; project description; budget; explanation of application; résumé; project samples

• Description: Barbara Deming, Money for Women is the oldest ongoing feminist granting agency

Georgia Writers’ John Lewis Writing Grants

• Deadline: October 1, 2022

• Eligibility: Black or African American residents of Georgia for at least one year, or full-time student at a Georgia college or university at the time of application; over eighteen years of age; write fiction, nonfiction, or poetry

• Funding: $500 to present a Georgia-based workshop or reading, and a scholarship to the next Red Clay Writers Conference

• Application Materials: Grant application; essay on writing goals; no more than a 10-page writing sample

• Description: Grant in honor of the late John Lewis to elevate, encourage, and inspire the voices of Black writers in Georgia

Mass Cultural Council’s Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Individuals

• Deadline: November 1, 2022

• Eligibility: Legal/full-year resident of Massachusetts; over eighteen years of age; independent (meaning your work is freelance, gig, contract, or temporary/seasonal); not currently enrolled as a full-time undergraduate or graduate student

• Funding: $5,000 unrestricted

• Application Materials: Online application

• Description: Mass Cultural Council’s Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Individuals offers grants to creatives and gig workers to support recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and set a path for growth

New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellowship

• Deadline: September 30, 2022

• Eligibility: Artist, academic, or creative writer (including poets, translators, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers) not currently enrolled in a graduate degree-granting program; able to be based in New York during the duration of the fellowship

• Funding: Up to $75,000; use of an office computer; full access to the New York Public Library’s physical and electronic resources

• Application Materials: Writing sample; project proposal; CV; three references

• Description: The Cullman Center Fellowship at the New York Public Library is granted annually to fifteen creatives whose work will benefit directly from access to the research collections at the New York Public Library. The fellowship will run from September 2023 to May 2024.

PEN America U.S. Writers Aid Initiative

• Deadline: October 1, 2022; December 1, 2022

• Eligibility: Professional writers based in the US; able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping them to address an emergency situation

• Funding: $1,000-$3,500

• Application Materials: Personal information; financial information (dependents, income, expenses, etc.); professional information; statement of need

• Description: The U.S. Writers Aid Initiative is intended to assist professional fiction and nonfiction authors, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, translators, and journalists in an emergency situation. The grant is not intended to subsidize writing-related expenses.

Speculative Literature Foundation Working Class Writers Grant

• Deadline: September 1, 2022-September 30, 2022

• Eligibility: U.S. domestic and international writers who are working class, blue-collar, financially disadvantaged, or homeless; write poetry, drama, fiction, or creative nonfiction

• Funding: $1,000

• Application Materials: Cover letter & writing sample

• Description: The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) provides grants intended to help writers working with speculative literature (science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.). The Working Class Grant is for writers who have been historically underrepresented in speculative fiction due to financial barriers which make it hard to access the writing world. Awardees may choose to receive this grant anonymously or pseudonymously. SLF also offers The Gulliver Travel Research Grant and The A.C. Bose Grant.

Wallace Stegner Fellowship

• Deadline: September 1, 2022-December 1, 2022

• Eligibility: Over eighteen years of age; has the ability to commute to Stanford; writes poetry or fiction

• Funding: $50,000 living stipend per academic year

• Application Materials: $85 application fee; statement of plans; writing sample; contact information for two recommenders; personal background information

• Description: The Wallace Stegner Fellowship is a two-year, full-time academic fellowship for poets and fiction writers housed at Stanford. Fellows must write and attend three-hour in-person weekly workshops. The fellowship is not intended to be pursued concurrently with another degree program; holding a full-time job during the fellowship runs counter to the intention of the fellowship.