GRANT PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The NEA Literature Fellowships program offers $25,000 grants in prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) and poetry to published creative writers that enable the recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement. Applications are reviewed through an anonymous process in which the only criteria for review are artistic excellence and artistic merit. To review the applications, the NEA assembles a different advisory panel every year, each diverse with regard to geography, race and ethnicity, and artistic points of view.

The NEA Literature Fellowships program operates on a two-year cycle with fellowships in prose and poetry available in alternating years. For FY 2013, which is covered by these guidelines, fellowships in poetry are available. Fellowships in prose will be offered in FY 2014 and guidelines will be available in the fall of 2012. You may apply only once each year.

Competition for fellowships is extremely rigorous. You should consider carefully whether your work will be competitive at the national level.

We Do Not Fund

• Individuals who previously have received two or more Literature Fellowships (in fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry) or Translation Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.
• Individuals who have received any Literature Fellowship (in fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry) or Translation Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts within the past ten years.
• News reporting.
• Scholarly writing. (Writers who are engaged in scholarly work may wish to contact the National Endowment for the Humanities.)
• Work toward academic degrees.

Deadline and Announcement Dates

You must submit your application electronically through Grants.gov, the federal government’s online application system. The Grants.gov system must receive your validated and accepted application no later than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on March 1, 2012. The Arts Endowment will not accept late applications.

The Grants.gov Contact Center is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Do not expect notification of awards and rejections before December 2012. The Arts Endowment’s support of a project may begin any time between January 1, 2013, and January 1, 2014, and extend for up to two years.

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506