2019 PEN AMERICA EMERGING VOICES FELLOWSHIP
INFO: The PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship (EV) is a literary mentorship that aims to provide new writers who are isolated from the literary establishment with the tools, skills, and knowledge they need to launch a professional writing career.
Emerging Voices is a rigorous national fellowship that is based in Los Angeles, with weekly meetings and an intense reading and writing schedule. If you are not a resident of Los Angeles, and you are awarded the fellowship you will need to relocate for the seven month period, from January to July of 2019. Housing is not provided.
Components of the Emerging Voices Fellowship Include:
- Guidance from a professional mentor.
- Private Author Evenings with writers, agents, and publishers.
- Genre-specific master classes.
- UCLA Extension Writers' Program classes.
- A professional voice instruction class and recording session.
- A submissions workshop.
- A volunteer opportunity.
- Authors photos and professional bio.
- Three public readings in Los Angeles.
- A $1,000 stipend.
People ineligible for the Emerging Voices Fellowship:
- Those who have an M.A., M.F.A., Ph.D., or minor in Creative Writing.
- Students currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate degree programs.
- Writers who have published one or more books through major publishing houses, university presses, or established presses.
- Current professional magazine and or newspaper feature writers or editors.
- Writers who are widely published in top-tier literary journals and/or magazines.
- Anyone under the age of 21.
Applications Must Include:
- Completed short answers.
- A professional CV or résumé. Please list any writing experience, education, and publishing credits.
- Two current letters of recommendation written by people who are either familiar with your writing, or can attest to your ability to complete a long term project. Letters must include the recommender's current e-mail address and phone number. Recommenders are not notified until the completed application is submitted. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the two letters are uploaded on August 1, 2018, by 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. (If you are waiting until the last minute to apply, be sure to notify your recommenders ahead of time so that their letters are ready to upload.)
- A writing sample of up to 20 pages of double-spaced fiction or creative nonfiction, or 10 pages of single-spaced poetry. This sample should be relevant to the project you are proposing in the short answer section of your Emerging Voices Fellowship Application. Writing samples that exceed this page count will be disqualified.
Writing Samples Must:
- Include full name and e-mail address on each page.
- Be typed, double-spaced, paginated in 12-point Times New Roman font.
- Uploaded as an attachment.
- Not be longer than the required page count. (See above.)
Notification:
Finalists will be notified mid-November and will be required to interview in person with the selection committee in Los Angeles. The list of selected fellows will be posted on the PEN America website following interviews.
SUBMISSION FEE: $10
DEADLINE: August 1, 2018
pen.submittable.com/submit/116936/2019-pen-america-emerging-voices-fellowship-application
2019 PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History
INFO: The PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History recognizes a literary work of nonfiction that uses oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement. The winner will receive a $10,000 grant to help maintain or complete his or her ongoing project.
DEADLINE: August 15, 2018
pen.submittable.com/submit/117322/2019-pen-jean-stein-grant-for-literary-oral-history-10-000
The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
INFO: The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence honors Louisiana’s revered storyteller, Ernest J. Gaines, and serves to inspire and recognize rising African-American fiction writers of excellence at a national level. The book award, initiated by donors of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, is now in its 12th year and has become nationally recognized in its role of enhancing visibility of emerging African-American fiction writers while also expanding the audience for this literature.
The 2018 panel of judges are themselves renowned contributors to the literary world. They are Anthony Grooms, Edward P. Jones, Elizabeth Nunez, Francine Prose and Patricia Towers.
PRIZE:
- $10,000 cash prize is to support the writer and help enable her/him to focus on her/his art of writing.
- The Baton Rouge Area Foundation sponsors the winner’s travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to receive the prize at a ceremony attended by Ernest Gaines where the author reads an excerpt from the selected work of fiction. A reception follows. The evening is free, open to the public and attracts a diverse audience.
- The literary award winner also participates in educational activities at selected area schools and after-school programs in keeping with the Gaines Award's interest in emphasizing the role of literature and arts in education. Through small creative writing workshops with the winning author, students are encouraged to pursue reading, delve into their own creativity, and to consider becoming an author.
DEADLINE: August 15, 2018
ernestjgainesaward.org/literary-award-criteria-registration/
Full Fellowships for Writers and Journalists
Under the Volcano
INFO: Under the Volcano announce the current application cycle for three full fellowships for English-language writers and journalists.
Grace Paley Fellowship - “for a woman writer of any age whose writing Grace Paley would have encouraged,” covers full tuition to any of our English-language master classes (fiction, poetry or memoir), our two-week extension residency, RT airfare to Mexico, 24 nights accommodation and most meals. DEADLINE: August 15, 2018.
Sandra Cisneros Fellowship - which recognizes a US Latino/a writer of outstanding literary promise and leadership ability. Names and contact info should be sent to director@underthevolcano.org. Same conditions as above. DEADLINE: August 15, 2018.
Margot Adler Fellowship for Innovative Journalism – established in honor of the extraordinary late NPR reporter, recognizes “a young working journalist whose commitment to contemporary issues would resonate with the life work of Margot Adler.” The recipient will attend our English-language investigative journalism master class with Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter David Barstow of the New York Times. The award coverage is identical to that of the Grace Paley Fellowship. DEADLINE: September 1, 2018.
Visiting Writer Fellowship
Red Bull Arts Detroit
INFO: The Visiting Writer Fellowship allows a writer to travel to Detroit twice over a two-month period to develop a piece of writing and a public program, such as a talk or a workshop. The writer will be introduced to cultural figures throughout the city, and be in dialogue with the Red Bull Artists in Residence. Travel, accommodations, and a 2,000 USD stipend are provided.
DEADLINE: August 24, 2018
redbullarts.com/detroit/news/applications-for-2019-open-now/
Magazine Submissions: Pleasure #81, Winter 2019
Bitch Media
INFO: It might seem like the wrong time to do an issue on the theme of Pleasure: As we log on each day and are promptly hit with what seems like year’s worth of bad news, pleasure often feels like either a luxury we can’t afford (the word itself just sounds so...indulgent) or an ethically dicey pursuit best kept to ourselves. What does pleasure look like in a time of near-constant moral emergency? Where do we seek it? Who gets to define and own it? Why, even in times of political and social crisis, do we need to find room in our lives for it?
For issue 81, we want to explore pleasure as a necessary—if often subjective—component of feminism, of activism, of political autonomy, of identity. While “pleasure” as both noun and verb has an inescapably sexual frisson, this issue isn’t all about the booty: We want to see stories, reportage, analysis, and commentary that speak to pleasure in all its complexities and dimensions. Unfettered pleasure, guilty pleasure, esoteric pleasure, secret pleasure (psst: no one has to know it’s you)—these shape our histories, creating and re-creating the mediated world. And we want all of them. We want our writers to ask and answer complex questions about who gets access to pleasure, especially in this trying time.
Here are a few prompts:
- Has the historical gendering of pleasure changed in a time of shifting gender strictures?
- What makes pleasure political?
- How have marginalized communities historically enacted and accessed pleasure?
- Did slaves have orgasms? Hey, it’s a worthy question to ask.
- What makes eating a pleasurable activity to engage in?
- Why are we still culturally invested in the concept of “guilty pleasures?”
SECTIONS: Features, Culture, Front-of-Book
Features
Features are deep dives into the intersection of feminism and pop culture. Long-form and essay writers examine, ruminate, and push boundaries. The writing is tight, top-notch, and original. We are looking for pieces that not only dive deep, but dive where no one else is looking.
Investigative Essay (2000–2500) You smell a buried story and want to tell the world what’s going on. Complete with research, reporting, and clear, concise writing, this piece braids information and intrigue and takes the readers on a journey through something underreported, unknown, or in need of a spotlight.
Analytical Feature (1500–1800) Nonfiction feminist critical essays are not about the “I” statements—a Bitch essay critiques a larger systematic or cultural problem by centering a marginal community and exploring the impact of that issue for a particular demographic. At its heart, it's a soaring cultural critique. This feature establishes your chops as a writer who is unafraid to go there. It’s an essay that demonstrates that you have cultivated your own distinct voice, your own Bitch sound, and your work unapologetically expresses an unforgettable message that centers your community, resistance, and establishes new ground with unchartered possibilities for how to live free.
Culture
This section is where Bitch brands and solidifies its cultural authority. From celebrating significant pieces of pop culture that are turning 20 to analyzing the Impact Of directors, producers, and screenwriters (500–800 words), Culture examines elements of our lives that show up in books, on screens, in music, and all over the internet.
Turning 20 (800–1000 words) is a feature that explores the cultural impact of one piece of pop culture that’s celebrating that golden anniversary. It can be a celebrity’s significant moment at the VMAs, a TV show that changed the landscape forever, or even a book that’s still as readable now as it was then.
Culture also features three analytical essays (650–700 words) that look at themes springing up in books, screen, and music, and explore the cultural context for that theme and why it’s significant. Are multiple TV shows depicting abortions? How is YA literature handling sexual assault? We want to know.
Lastly, Culture wants to know the people behind-the-scenes who are making television and movie magic (400–500 words). Who’s the next Ava Duvernay or Joi McMillon or Shonda Rhimes? These interviews highlight voices that are rarely tapped into.
Front-of-Book
Dispatches (900–1000 words) are missives from the frontlines. We’re looking for underreported and fascinating stories from across the country, the globe, and the realms of fiction that center location and introduce Bitch readers to stories and topics they might not have encountered before. A great dispatch could be from Argentina or Tennessee just as easily as Westeros or West World.
DEADLINE: August 28, 2018
bitchmedia.submittable.com/submit/118908/magazine-submissions-pleasure-81-winter-2019
Diverse Voices Scholarship
The Author Accelerator
INFO: At Author Accelerator, we believe that diverse voices and perspectives are critical in a society that is truly striving for equality. And while the publishing industry has come a long way in recent years, it still has a long way to go in recognizing the importance of diverse perspectives in literature, particularly when it comes to authors from historically marginalized groups.
As book coaches we recognize that there are myriad barriers for writers of color in the publishing industry. That’s why we’re launching a scholarship program with the mission of amplifying under-recognized voices by providing editorial guidance and career mentorship to emerging writers of color.
This scholarship provides two back-to-back Manuscript Accelerator coaching programs, a $5,200 value, over the course of a year, as well as career mentorship, which may include introductions to literary agents if appropriate.
Three scholarships will be offered beginning in January 2019, and are open to writers of color who meet the following criteria:
- Have not yet published a book with a print run of more than 1,000
- Are not currently represented by an agent
- Have a book-length project currently under development
- Seek to establish a career as an author
SUBMISSION FEE: $0
DEADLINE: August 31, 2018
authoraccelerator.com/scholarship/
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Sustainable Arts Foundation
INFO: Sustainable Arts Foundation – a non-profit foundation supporting artists and writers with families – is committed to offering half of its awards to applicants of color.
Writers may apply in one of the following categories:
- Creative Nonfiction
- Early and Middle Grade Fiction
- Fiction
- Graphic Novels
- Long Form Journalism
- Picture Books
- Playwriting
- Poetry
- Young Adult Fiction
AWARD: $5,000
DEADLINE: August 31, 2018
apply.sustainableartsfoundation.org/
DISPLACED ARTISTS FUND
Vermont Studio Center
INFO: Vermont Studio Center’s Displaced Artists Fund exists to assist visual artists and writers displaced due to natural disasters, climate change, or political turmoil or threat by providing residencies in a safe and supportive community of creative peers.
By providing a creative community of refuge in Vermont, these residencies restore normalcy to studio practice, ease the isolation that often accompanies displacement, and extend VSC’s founding spirit of “artists supporting artists” to those most in need.
ELIGIBILITY: Artists from Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, & the Caribbean Displaced by the 2017 Hurricane Season, and U.S. Artists Displaced by 2017-2018 Wildfires.
In the email, briefly describe your eligibility, including:
- The nature of your displacement
- The nature of your artistic or writing practice
- Why a residency would be helpful at this time.
Applications will be reviewed during the first week of each month as long as funding exists. Priority review may be available to applicants with immediate verifiable need (manuscript deadline, gallery show, or other time-sensitive professional opportunity).
DEADLINE: Ongoing
vsc.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/j/C88D3A935B6ED7732540EF23F30FEDED/B88CBE7D284961401A01488700E2614F