Emerging Writer Fellowships
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
The Writer’s Center, metropolitan Washington, DC’s community gathering place for writers and readers, is currently accepting submissions for several competitive Emerging Writer Fellowships for Spring 2011. We welcome submissions from writers of all genres, backgrounds, and experiences in the following genres: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. This year, the National Endowment for the Arts has generously awarded The Writer’s Center a grant that will help fund the Emerging Writer Fellowships.
Emerging Writer Fellows will be featured at The Writer’s Center as part of Story/Stereo, our Emerging Writers Reading Series and live music fusion events. The readings, held on Friday evenings, bring together writers and some of the area’s best local musicians. The Writer’s Center book store will sell titles by the Emerging Writers throughout the season in which they appear in an effort to promote them and their work to a wide audience. You can learn more about Story/Stereo by visiting www.storystereo.com.
Selected Fellows may be invited to lead a special Saturday workshop at The Writer’s Center, with compensation commensurate with standard Writer’s Center provisions.
Fellows receive an all-inclusive honorarium to help offset their travel costs, depending on their place of departure. Writers within a 250 mile radius of the Center will receive $250; all others will receive $500.
Fellows for Fall 2010 include Aryn Kyle (Boys and Girls Like You and Me); Allison Benis White (Self-Portrait with Crayon); Jenny Browne (The Second Reason); Debra Gwartney (Living Through This: A Mother’s Memoir of Runaway Daughters); Doreen Baingana (Tropical Fish: Stories out of Enbebbe); and Alison Pelegrin (Big Muddy River of Stars). Past fellows included poets William Archila (The Art of Exile), Nicole Cooley (Breach), and Kathleen Flenniken (Famous); fiction writers Anthony Varallo (Out Loud), Marianne Villanueva (Mayor of the Roses), and Josh Weil (The New Valley); and nonfiction writers Steve Fellner (All Screwed Up) and Dawn Potter (Tracing Paradise: Two Years in Harmony with John Milton).
Emerging Writer Fellows will:
• have 1 or 2 full-length single-author books published in a single genre, and no more than 3 books published to their credit (including as editors of anthologies) in any genre. Chapbooks and pamphlets will not be calculated into an author’s total publication record and cannot be substituted for a full-length single-author book. Self-published titles or vanity press titles are not admissible and will not be considered.
• be judged in the category in which their submitted creative selection falls. In cases of cross-genre work or multiple-genre work, our staff will determine the genre of consideration.
• have published books “in hand” or be in the uncorrected proof stage of publication at the time of their submission.
To be considered, please send:
• a one-page letter of interest that includes the name of your creative selection and a short bio
• a resume or CV that details publication history and familiarity facilitating group discussions or workshops
• a creative selection from your most recent published book-length work in a Word document or RTF format:
o Poetry: up to 10 pages of poems (1 poem per page)
o Fiction & Nonfiction: up to 16 pages of text double-spaced with 1-inch margins
o Your creative selection does not need to be one excerpt, but can be comprised of multiple sections or excerpts up to but not exceeding the total page limit.
Please submit hardcopy to 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815, or electronically to Zachary Fernebok.
A committee comprised of The Writer’s Center board members, workshop leaders, and members will evaluate submissions on behalf of our community of writers.
The deadline to submit is September 30, 2010.
Applicants are welcome to contact Kyle Semmel, Interim Director, with questions or for more information at 301-654-8664 or by email .
Established in 1976, The Writer’s Center is one of the nation’s oldest and largest literary centers, dedicated to cultivating the creation, publication, presentation, and dissemination of literary work. We provide over 60 free public events and more than 200 writing workshops each year, sell one of the largest selections of literary magazines in our on-site bookstore, and publish Poet Lore, America’s oldest continually published poetry journal.
Scholarships and Fellowships
The Writer’s Center believes writers of all backgrounds and experiences should have an opportunity to devote time and energy toward the perfection of their craft. So we’ve established several new initiatives designed to give writers an opportunity to pursue their creative efforts. Below you'll find information on our Emerging Writer Fellowships. Learn more about our Undiscovered Voices Fellowship or our Ann Darr Scholarships.
Emerging Writers Fellowship
The Writer’s Center, metropolitan DC’s community gathering place for writers and readers, is currently accepting submissions for several competitive Emerging Writer Fellowships. Emerging Writer Fellows will be selected from applicants who have published up to 2 book-length works of prose and up to 3 book-length works of poetry. We welcome submissions from writers of any genre, background, or experience.
Emerging Writer Fellows will be featured at The Writer’s Center as part of their Emerging Writers Reading Series. The readings, held on Friday evenings, bring together writers in different genres with a backdrop of live music. The Writer’s Center book store will sell titles by the Emerging Writers throughout the season in which they appear in an effort to promote them and their work to a wide audience. To see a list of past Emerging Writer Fellows, please click here.
Undiscovered Voices Fellowship
The Writer’s Center seeks promising writers earning less than $25,000 annually to apply for our Undiscovered Voices Fellowship. This fellowship program will provide complimentary writing workshops to the selected applicant for a period of one year, but not to exceed 8 workshops in that year. We expect the selected fellow will use the year to make progress toward a completed manuscript of publishable work.
The selected fellow will be able to attend writing workshops offered by The Writer’s Center free of charge. In addition, the fellow will give a reading from his or her work at the close of the fellowship period (June 2010) and will be invited to speak with local high school students on the craft of writing. To learn more about our Undiscovered Voices Fellowship or to apply, please click here.
Ann Darr Scholarship
The Writer’s Center is grateful to generous donors for funding towards scholarships for deserving writers who wish to take workshops. If you are female veteran or active-duty soldier, you can get a scholarship to cover the cost of tuition for one writing workshop. Additional scholarships are available for those applicants who re-apply and/or receive instructor recommendation.
To apply, please send a 1-2 page cover letter that discusses your armed service experience and your specific goals and aspirations.
Applications should be e-mailed to Zachary Fernebok or postmarked
by February 15, 2011 to:
Zachary Fernebok, Ann Darr Application
The Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20815