Month: August 2022

Fellowships play an important role in the field of creative writing. Often seen as prestigious resumė-builders, these honors can definitely help you get into an MFA program or find a literary agent. But fellowships are also so much more than just a line on your C.V.—the best ones will build your confidence, introduce you to new mentors, and grant you valuable space and time to focus on your craft. Plus, fellowships mark a key way for writers to fund themselves and their work. 

 

Check out our roundup of some of the most well-known fellowships for emerging and early-career writers. Some don’t accept applications for a while, but writers typically prepare fellowship applications for months or even a year—think plenty of time to gather recommendation letters and revise your poems until they’re as strong as possible. So, bookmark these stellar opportunities for the next application season. 

 

The Miami Book Fair Emerging Writer Fellowships

 

Want to live in Miami, Florida for a year while working on a full-length manuscript? That’s the idea behind The Miami Book Fair Emerging Writer Fellowships, which are open to anyone living in the U.S. or a U.S. Territory who is 21 or older, has not yet published a book, and is not a degree-seeking student. 

 

Poetry applicants must submit 20 to 30 pages of work, along with a description of the manuscript-length project they’re working on and two letters of recommendation. Winners earn a $41,000 stipend and gain professional experience in either teaching creative writing or arts administration. While this year’s fellows were recently announced, expect 2023 deadlines to occur around May. 

 

Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellowships

 

Located in Aspen, Colorado, the organization Aspen Words hosts workshops, talks with agents, and more. Winners of the Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellowships—awarded to early career writers who have not yet had a full-length book published or contracted for publication—participate in this innovative programming for free through a summer residency model, with the fellowship also encompassing airfare, lodging, and some meals. 

 

2022 winners have already been announced, and stand-out faculty for this season includes Terrance Hayes, Mark Doty, and Natalie Serber. Attendees will meet with agents and editors from Greenhouse Literary Agency, Ayesha Pande Literary, Harper (Ecco), and other established organizations. You’ll need to reach out to your connections for this opportunity—self-nominations aren’t accepted, and instead, writers must be nominated by a mentor. Deadlines for 2023 aren’t listed yet, but 2022 fellows were announced in February.

 

PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship

 

The writing industry has a serious diversity problem, and The PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship is committed to reckoning with that fact and improving the literary landscape. This early career fellowship is meant for traditionally underrepresented writers, including writers of color, LGBTQ writers, immigrants, and writers with disabilities. Applicants must live in the U.S., cannot have an advanced degree in creative writing or a full-length book published, and must be 21 or older. 

 

The fellowship awards a $1,500 honorarium, as well as five months of mentorship with an established poet, access to workshops and programming, a professional headshot, a guide to submitting work to literary journals, and more. Applications for 2023 open in January. 

 

Kenyon Review’s Developmental Editing Fellowship for Emerging Writers

Past Kenyon Review fellows include Natalie Shapero, Molly McCully Brown, and many other amazing poets. Applications for 2023 haven’t been released yet, with 2022 fellows recently announced, but applicants must be early in their careers. The prize is four months of significant one-on-one mentorship. The 2022 developmental editing mentor for poetry is Brandon Som, who has received a Kate Tufts Discovery Award, a Snowbound Prize, and been published by Nightboat Books and Tulepo Press.

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Though writers might not think of themselves as activists, poets frequently contribute to and even lead social movements. From Langston Hughes’ powerful anti-segregation poetry to the modern-day rise of ecopoetics, poets continue to speak out on the biggest issues of their time. 

 

Pairing this reflective verse with books on the practice and tools of political organizing will help literary world-changers make deeper connections between words and actions. Consider alternating between a few poems and a chapter of nonfiction to learn how both can inspire us to push for a better, more equitable world. 

 

1. Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith and How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

 

How to Be an Antiracist soared to the top of bestseller lists in 2020 amidst police brutality and the pivotal rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Ibram X. Kendi, who formed the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University and won a National Book Award for Nonfiction, weaves together wide-ranging, intensive research and personal experiences, creating an engrossing read that argues it’s not enough to be not racist—instead, one must actively be anti-racist. 

 

Danez Smith’s Don’t Call Us Dead, winner of the National Book Award for Poetry, similarly spotlights the everyday experiences and effects of police brutality and anti-Black violence. Just as Kendi sets forth a bold, anti-racist vision, Smith not only viscerally depicts the horrors Black men and boys currently endure, but the brighter, more beautiful futures they deserve. 

 

2. Heart Talk by Cleo Wade and All About Love by bell hooks 

 

Cleo Wade’s bestselling Heart Talk promises to offer “poetic wisdom for a better life.” As its title suggests, it centers around the heart and the role of love, encouraging us to get more in touch with these vital forces. Wade instructs readers on how to more healthfully love others, as well as advocates for unabashedly loving yourself. 

 

bell hooks’ foundational and essential text All About Love also explores love as a powerful and reverent concept. Specifically, hooks resists the idea that love is a shallow, surface-level emotion and only relevant to romantic relationships. Instead, hooks examines love as a political force, a way of building community, and an unbreakable strategy for resisting systems like patriarchy, racism, and sexism. 

 

3. One Big Self by C.D. Wright and We Do This ‘Til They Free Us by Mariame Kaba

 

One Big Self shows the late C.D. Wright’s multimodal writing at its absolute best. The MacArthur fellow blends poetry and investigative journalism—along with collaborator Deborah Luster’s photography—to illuminate the injustice, exploitation, and isolation currently at play in American prisons. 

 

While Wright focuses on the personal stories in her home state of Louisiana, abolitionist organizer Mariame Kaba looks at the role of prisons nationally and globally. In doing so, she imagines pathways and models for restorative justice and defying the police state. 

 

4. The Erotic Spirit: An Anthology of Poems of Sensuality, Love, and Longing, edited by Sam Hamill and Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by Adrienne Maree Brown

 

Political organizing can often feel tiring, enraging, and even depressing, as organizers struggle to craft a bridge between current reality and the world we deserve. As valid as these feelings are, however, organizers can’t persevere without the radical antidote of joy. 

 

In Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, feminist writer and activist Adrienne Maree Brown pays tribute to the rich communities organizing can foster, the role of the erotic in social movements, and the undeniable importance of self-care. By finding joy, she notes, activists refuel themselves to continue making strides for change. The Erotic Spirit: An Anthology of Poems of Sensuality, Love, and Longing similarly enforces the significance of pleasure, arguing that we should take our joy and erotic expression seriously. 

 

5. The Art of Work by Jen Fitzgerald and Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor by Steven Greenhouse

 

Poetry has often been seen as elitist and separate from daily, material concerns. But the genre has an undeniable history of uplifting working-class voices, as seen throughout the Harlem Renaissance, the Beat generation, and beyond. In The Art of Work, socialist poet Jen Fitzgerald showcases the experience of food service and meat factory workers in particular. By shedding light on how joyless this work can be, Fitzgerald makes room for the unexpected joys of class solidarity and revolution. 

 

Beaten Down, Worked Up—an expansive journalistic feat praised by critics at The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Kirkus, and more—takes a broader look at the modern face of American labor. By interviewing and showcasing the stories of everyone from teachers to Uber workers, Steven Greenhouse illustrates a sobering, decades-long decline in worker power and the fierce, growing movement attempting to get it back. 

 

Looking to get more involved in fighting for social change? Read our article on concrete ways to make a difference through poetry.

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