STEINBECK FELLOWS PROGRAM
San Jose State University
INFO: The Steinbeck Fellows Program of San José State University (SJSU), which was endowed through the generosity of Martha Heasley Cox, offers emerging writers of any age and background the opportunity to pursue a significant writing project while in residence at SJSU. The emphasis of the program is on helping writers who have had some success, but not published extensively, and whose promising work would be aided by the financial support and sponsorship of the Center and the University's creative writing program.
Currently, SJSU offers one-year fellowships in Steinbeck scholarship and in creative writing, including fiction, drama, creative nonfiction, and biography. Applications in poetry will not be accepted. In awarding fellowships, the selection committee considers the quality of the candidate's proposal and any factors that would lead to expectations of future publication and other achievement. Fellows may not be enrolled in a degree program during the fellowship period.
The Steinbeck Fellowship Program is named in honor of author John Steinbeck and is guided by his lifetime of work in literature, the media, and environmental activism. The program offers the opportunity to interact with other writers, faculty and graduate students, and to share their work in progress by giving a public reading once each semester during the fellowship.
AWARD: The fellowships afford a stipend of $10,000. Residency in the San José area is required during the academic year (approximately 1 September - 20 May).
DEADLINE: January 2, 2017
sjsu.edu/steinbeck/fellows/steinbeckfellows_apply/
GRACE PALEY PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION
Association of Writers & Writing Programs
INFO: AWP’s Award Series is an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works. The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence, and it is open to published and unpublished authors alike.
Only book-length manuscripts are eligible. The Award Series defines “book-length” as: 150–300 manuscript pages.
Stories previously published in periodicals are eligible for inclusion in submissions, but manuscripts previously published in their entirety, including self-published manuscripts, are not eligible. As the series is judged anonymously, no list of acknowledgements should accompany your manuscript.
The AWP Award Series is open to all authors writing original works in English for adult readers.
AWARD: $5,500
SUBMISSION FEE: $30 for nonmembers; $20 for members
APPLICATION PERIOD: January 1 – February 28, 2017
awpwriter.org/contests/awp_award_series_overview
AWP PRIZE FOR THE NOVEL
Association of Writers & Writing Programs
INFO: AWP’s Award Series is an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works. The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence, and it is open to published and unpublished authors alike.
Only book-length manuscripts are eligible. The Award Series defines “book-length” as: 60,000 words.
Stories previously published in periodicals are eligible for inclusion in submissions, but manuscripts previously published in their entirety, including self-published manuscripts, are not eligible. As the series is judged anonymously, no list of acknowledgements should accompany your manuscript.
The AWP Award Series is open to all authors writing original works in English for adult readers.
AWARD: $2,500
SUBMISSION FEE: $30 for nonmembers; $20 for members
APPLICATION PERIOD: January 1 – February 28, 2017
awpwriter.org/contests/awp_award_series_overview
AWP PRIZE FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION
Association of Writers & Writing Programs
INFO: AWP’s Award Series is an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works. The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence, and it is open to published and unpublished authors alike.
Only book-length manuscripts are eligible. The Award Series defines “book-length” as: 150–300 manuscript pages.
Stories previously published in periodicals are eligible for inclusion in submissions, but manuscripts previously published in their entirety, including self-published manuscripts, are not eligible. As the series is judged anonymously, no list of acknowledgements should accompany your manuscript.
The AWP Award Series is open to all authors writing original works in English for adult readers.
AWARD: $2,500
SUBMISSION FEE: $30 for nonmembers; $20 for members
APPLICATION PERIOD: January 1 – February 28, 2017
awpwriter.org/contests/awp_award_series_overview
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: THE ISLANDS ART WRITING RESIDENCY
Fogo Island Arts
INFO: Art Metropole and Fogo Island Arts are seeking applications for The Islands, a two-part residency that aims to encourage arts writing and criticism in contemporary art. Open to Canadian and international applicants, The Islands will take place on Fogo Island and at Artscape Gibraltar Point on Toronto Island, Canada, from May 1 to June 15, 2017.
The Islands invites emerging and established arts writers and artists with a writing practice to think about writing, remoteness, isolation and time across two unique locations. The successful candidate will spend a month on Fogo Island as part of Fogo Island Arts’ residency program, followed by two weeks on Toronto Island at Artscape Gibraltar Point. The project will culminate in a small publication funded, published, and distributed by Art Metropole.
Arts writing practices may range in structure, content, and medium, addressing various forms and disciplines that may include poetry, art criticism, and experimental writing; periodical production (journals, art books, magazines), or edition production (art multiples, prints, posters). Applications should directly consider the role of writing in the arts, and take into consideration the unique circumstances of the residencies.
DEADLINE: January 6, 2017
artmetropole.com/events/the-islands
CALL FOR PAPERS: “OUR MISS BROOKS: A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION"
2017 National Black Writers Conference Biennial Symposium
INFO: The year 2017 marks the centennial of the birth of Gwendolyn Brooks, who through her powerful, passionate, social and politically conscious poetry and prose, used a range of modern literary aesthetics to provide a window into the life of Blacks in 20th century urban America. Brooks was the first Black author to win the Pulitzer Prize and was poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. The author of the poetry collections Annie Allen and The Bean Eaters, and the novel Maud Martha, Gwendolyn Brooks claims an irrefutable place in our literary canon. In partnership with “Our Miss Brooks 100,” the Center for Black Literature is proud to take part in the yearlong “Our Miss Brooks: A Centennial Celebration.”
For the 2017 NBWC Biennial Symposium, the Center for Black Literature invites poets, writers, independent researchers, interested faculty and students to submit proposals that examine the life of Gwendolyn Brooks and the themes in her works. Proposals may include but are not limited to the following subjects:
Brooks was a socially conscious African-American poet whose most recognized works in the 1950s and 1960s were created from the challenging times Blacks faced in America and also represented a portrait of the people that surrounded her. More than 65 year later, with the establishment of the Black Lives Matter movement, in what ways does Brooks’s poems, prose, and community activism resonate in today’s society
In his book Honoring Genius, Gwendolyn Brooks: The Narrative of Craft, Art, Kindness and Justice, Haki R. Madhubuti writes: “Ms. Brooks was a woman who could not live without her art, but who had never put her art above or before the people she wrote about.” With this reflection in mind, examine the ways in which Brooks’s prose and poetry reflect the human experience as well as the experiences of Blacks in America.
DEADLINE: January 9, 2017
centerforblackliterature.org/call_for_papers_miss_brooks/
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: PROTECTING SACRED SPACES
As/Us
INFO: As/Us accepts poetry, spoken word, creative nonfiction, fiction, academic essays, and more, from Indigenous writers, writers of color, and allies.
Their next issue will be dedicated to the protectors, defenders, and warriors. This is a global call for songs of survival, stories of sacred spaces, poems of protection, essays of experiences in taking a stand, and art honoring the earth from Standing Rock to Oak Flat to Mauna Kea, and every other place being threatened. Submissions open to Indigenous writers, writers of color and allies.
DEADLINE: January 9, 2016
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Tor.com
INFO: Tor.com is seeking unsolicited novella submissions. They will be considering novellas of between 20,000 and 40,000 words that fit the epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, high fantasy, or quest fantasy genres, whether set on Earth or on an original fantasy world. However, they will only be considering novellas that inhabit worlds that are not modeled on European cultures. They are seeking worlds that take their influences from Africa, Asia, indigenous American, Pacific, or any diasporic culture from one of those sources.
To qualify, novellas should center the experiences of characters from non-European-inspired cultures. Both Lee Harris and Carl Engle-Laird actively request submissions from writers from underrepresented populations. This includes, but is not limited to, writers of any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, class and physical or mental ability. They believe that good science fiction and fantasy reflects the incredible diversity and potential of the human species, and hope our catalog will reflect that.
DEADLINE: January 12, 2017, at 9:00am EST
submissions.tor.com/tornovellas/
ANNUAL RETREAT
Kundiman
INFO: In order to help mentor the next generation of Asian American writers, Kundiman sponsors an annual Retreat in partnership with Fordham University. During the Retreat, nationally renowned Asian American poets and writers conduct Master Classes and manuscript consultations with fellows. Readings, writing circles and informal social gatherings are also scheduled. Through this Retreat, Kundiman hopes to provide a safe and instructive environment that identifies and addresses the unique challenges faced by emerging Asian American writers. This five-day Retreat takes place from Wednesday June 21 to Sunday June 25. Workshops will not exceed six students.
FEES:
- The non-refundable tuition fee is $375.
- Room and board provided free to accepted fellows.
- The application fee is $25.
DEADLINE: January 15, 2017
2017 NYSCA/NYFA ARTIST FELLOWSHIP
INFO: For the past 31 years, NYFA has awarded fellowships to individual originating artists living in New York State and/or Indian Nations located in New York State. NYFA is committed to supporting artists from diverse cultural backgrounds at all stages of their professional careers.
2017 Fellowship Categories:
- Crafts/Sculpture
- Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts
- Nonfiction Literature
- Poetry
- Digital/Electronic Arts
AWARD: NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships, awarded in fifteen different disciplines over a three-year period, are $7,000 cash awards made to individual originating artists living and working in the state of New York for unrestricted use. These fellowships are not project grants but are intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, regardless of the level of his or her artistic development.
(Includes the Joanne Chen Fellowship awarded annually to a Taiwanese American artist resident in New York. The winner of this award will receive an unrestricted grant of $7,000.)
DEADLINE: January 25, 2017 at 11:59pm
nyfa.org/Content/Show/Artists'%20Fellowships
2017-18 DAVID T.K. WONG FELLOWSHIP
INFO: The David T. K. Wong Creative Writing Fellowship is a unique and generous annual award that enables a fiction writer who wants to write in English about the Far East to spend a year in the UK, at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.
The Fellowship will be awarded to a writer planning to produce a work of prose fiction in English which deals seriously with some aspect of life in the Far East (Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Peoples’ Republic of China, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam). The successful candidate will be selected by a distinguished international panel. There will be no interviews, and candidates will be judged entirely on the quality and promise of their writing and the project they describe.
Fellows take up their appointments on 1st October each year. The Fellow will be a member of the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing and will be required to reside at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom for the academic year, accommodation will be provided on campus, to be paid for by the Fellow out of the Fellowship Award. Shared office space and computer facilities will be made available for the Fellow in the School. During the residential period, the Fellow will be required to submit written work to a nominated mentor and take part in Creative Writing Research Seminars. No teaching duties attach to the Fellowship.
The Fellowship is named for its sponsor Mr David Wong, a retired Hong Kong businessman who has also been a teacher, journalist and senior civil servant, and is a writer of fiction. The Fellowship was launched in 1997 and the first Fellow appointed from 1st October 1998.
AWARD: £26,000
DEADLINE: January 30, 2017
uea.ac.uk/literature/fellowships/david-tk-wong-fellowship
CAINE PRIZE FOR AFRICAN WRITING
INFO: The Caine Prize for African Writing aims is to bring African writing to a wider audience through their annual literary award. In addition to administering the Prize, they work to connect readers with African writers through a series of public events, as well as helping emerging writers in Africa to enter the world of mainstream publishing through the annual Caine Prize writers’ workshop, which takes place in a different African country each year.
AWARD: Winning and short-listed authors will be invited to participate in writers’ workshops in Africa, London and elsewhere as resources permit. There is a cash prize of £10,000 for the winning author and a travel award for each of the short-listed candidates (up to five in all). The shortlisted candidates will also receive a Prize of £500. The winner is also invited to go to three literature festivals in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria.
DEADLINE: January 31, 2017
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
On She Goes
INFO: On She Goes is planning to launch in Spring 2017 and will include reported articles, essays, and local guides. Their publishing schedule will follow monthly themes, and at launch we'll be exploring how We Belong Here. Women of color have been traveling and we belong everywhere. What happened when you weren't sure if you should visit a city, but you went anyway? How did you feel out of place in a new country and made the best of it? Are there travel groups you want to report on or interesting travelers you want to interview? Do you have an idea for a guide that would help fellow women of color travelers feel at home in your hometown? Are there travel-related films and books by women of color that you're interested in reviewing? Did you move somewhere new and want to share what your new city is like?
They're interested in your ideas and experiences to share on a platform by, for, and about women of color and travel. They're looking for pieces that explore how race, gender, food culture, fashion, travel industry, homeland, feminism, politics, and more intersect with travel. Whether it's an experience that you still reflect on from years ago or an upcoming trip that you want to write about, they're open to your ideas.
DEADLINE: January 31, 2017
https://onshegoes.submittable.com/submit
NEW YORK CITY EMERGING WRITERS FELLOWSHIP
Center for Fiction
INFO: The New York City Emerging Writers Fellowship offers the following:
- The option to engage in a mentorship with a selected freelance editor
- The opportunity to meet with agents who represent new writers
- A Center for Fiction membership that includes borrowing privileges for our collection of new fiction and fiction-related titles
- Free admission to all Center events for one year, including tickets to our First Novel Fete, and Benefit Dinner as space allows
- 30% discount on tuition at select writing workshops at the Center
- Two public readings as part of our annual program of events and inclusion in an anthology distributed to industry professionals
- A professional headshot with a photographer for personal publicity use
AWARD: $5,000
DEADLINE: January 31, 2017
http://www.centerforfiction.org/forwriters/grants-and-awards/
HURSTON / WRIGHT COLLEGE WRITERS AWARD
The Zora Neale Hurston / Richard Wright Foundation
INFO: The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation is proud to host the annual Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers, which is the only award of its kind that recognizes Black college writers. The award is the foundation’s first program. It was initiated to support emerging Black artists in fiction and poetry enrolled full-time in an undergraduate or graduate school program anywhere in the United States.
Black writers who are full-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs at any university in the United States are eligible to submit a work of fiction or poetry for consideration. They must be enrolled at the time of submission. Full-time student includes low-residency MFA programs. At this time, students in online-only courses of university programs are not considered eligible for the award.
Writers are ineligible if they have published books, including poetry chapbooks or fiction narratives, through any publishing platform.
All work submitted must be original and unpublished at the time of submission. Author name and contact details should be on a separate page. Only the title should appear on the work because judges will not know who submitted or what school the student attends.
Hurston/Wright does not accept work that is submitted simultaneously to multiple competitions. Therefore, we make every effort to notify writers by the end of April whether their submissions were accepted or not accepted.
Awards will be announced in May. Award winners and honorable mentions will be invited to attend the Legacy Award ceremony that is hosted in October in Washington, DC.
SUBMISSION FEE: $25
DEADLINE: February 1, 2017
hurstonwrightfoundation.submittable.com/submit/47974
NEW AMERICA FELLOWS PROGRAM
INFO: New America’s Fellows Program invests in thinkers — academics, journalists, independent scholars, and public policy analysts — who offer fresh and often unconventional perspectives on the major challenges facing our society.
Fellows advance big ideas through research, reporting, analysis, and/or storytelling. The big idea can be a sweeping reframing of a familiar subject through new research or a new combination of existing research; a masterful presentation of a case study that advances our understanding of a timeless American theme or stress fracture; an innovative new media or academic project to disseminate knowledge about a shared challenge; or a bold policy prescription for moving domestic and international issues forward.
The goal of the Fellows Program is to find bold, iconoclastic thinkers and to fund them for one to two years, long enough so that they can write a book, develop a series of articles, make a documentary, or work on another project that would be accessible to a broad audience and long enough to be able to build a real community among the fellows.
Fellows benefit from a financial stipend, engagement with each other and with New America’s various policy programs, and the expanded audience and exposure from New America and its media partners. Precise terms and stipend levels of fellowships vary widely, as some fellows work full-time at New America in pursuit of their research, while many others have other professional commitments during the term of their fellowship.
IMPORTANT DATES:
- Deadline: February 1, 2017
- Fellowship: September 2017 to August 2018
new-america.forms.fm/new-america-fellows-program-class-of-2018-application