Literary Opportunities

Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize

Wasafiri has awarded some of the most exciting new voices in life writing, poetry, and fiction from around the world. The prize supports writers who have not published book-length works, with no limits on age, gender, nationality, or background. The winners of each category will receive a £1,000 cash prize and publication in Wasafiri.

Details and deadline news on their website.

The Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize

This is an annual competition for unpublished writers. The prize awards £4,000 to the best proposal for a book-length essay (minimum 25,000 words) by a writer resident in the UK & Ireland who has yet to secure a publishing deal. In addition to the £4,000 prize, the winner has the opportunity to spend up to six weeks in residency at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy to work on their book.

Deadline is in March.

Bridport Prize

The Bridport Prize is an international creative writing competition and one of the most prestigious awards in the literary world. There are competitions for those writing fiction and non-fiction; for dates, details, and deadlines for each separate prize, please visit their website.

Alistair Horne Visiting Fellowship

The Alistair Horne Fellowship provides financial assistance and membership of St Antony’s College for a candidate prepared to write a significant book of non-fiction for a general readership.

Deadline is in December (specific date varies each year).

London Review of Books International Fellowship

The LRB International Fellowship is a jointly funded award that provides up to 3 months of research support while consulting the London Review of Books (LRB) archive, potentially alongside other Ransom Center collections.

Deadline is in November (specific date varies each year).

Wallace Stegner Fellowship

Unique among writing programs, Stanford University offers 10 two-year fellowships each year, 5 in fiction and 5 in poetry. All the fellows in each genre convene weekly in a 3-hour workshop with faculty.

Deadline is in November.

Jerwood Arvon Writer Residencies

This is a new talent development programme for emerging writers by Arvon Foundation. The residencies will support 12 writers working in fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and playwriting, giving them the opportunity to bring a project to completion over the course of the self-guided 18-month programme.

Deadline is in November.

The de Groot Visiting Fellowship

The de Groot Visiting Fellowship Program at the American Library in Paris supports writers, thinkers, and scholars across disciplines who advance dialogue, creativity, and cross-cultural understanding.

Please check the fellowship's own website for application details.

Alpine Fellowship

Alpine is a charitable foundation that supports, commissions and showcases artists, writers, academics and playwrights. They are committed to discovering emerging talent, to disseminating new ideas and to sharing thoughts about art, literature and philosophy.

For more details about submission deadlines, please check the fellowship's own website.

London Writers Centre's London Writers Awards

The London Writers Awards aims to increase the number of writers from under-represented communities being taken up by agents and publishers. So far, the programme has supported 144 writers and become the most successful writer development scheme in the UK, with 57 writers agented and over 65 book deals.

Deadline for this programme is in November.

The London Library's Emerging Writers' Programme

The Programme offers a year’s free full membership of the Library, including access to the beautiful spaces, million-volume collection, generous borrowing allowance, extensive digital resources and discounts for public events.

Applications open in January.

Women's Prize x Chanel - The Originators

Originators invites emerging, unpublished novelists from across the United States to apply for mentorship by submitting a writing sample of 5,000 words, a synopsis, and information about themselves.

Deadline is in late November.

Write Club x Groucho Club Writer's Residency

The prize offers one successful applicant a month-long stay at The Groucho Club’s iconic Soho hotel, £1,500 in food and beverage credit to be spent at the Club and dedicated mentorship provided by Write Club over the course of August.

Deadline is in May.

Shakespeare and Company x Tumbleweeding Programme

Successful applicants will have use of a studio (with private bathroom) within the bookshop building in Paris, filled with books should you be in need of literary inspiration for your writing project and reading.

Deadline is in January (specific date varies each year).

Blake-Beckett Trust Scholarship

This scholarship is offered annually to an Australian author to provide them with valuable time to work on a current manuscript. The winner of the Scholarship will receive AU$35,000 and the runner-up will receive AU$15,000.

Deadline is in October.

St John’s College, Cambridge, Harper-Wood Award

Poets and authors at the start of their careers have the chance to spend a paid year overseas with the Harper-Wood Creative Writing and Travel Award for English Poetry and Literature. Funding will be determined by the College Council, up to a maximum of £20,700.

Deadline for this programme is in April (varies each year).

PEN America's Emerging Voices Fellowship

This Fellowship provides a virtual 5-month immersive mentorship program for early-career writers from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the publishing world. Through curated one-on-one mentorship, the fellowship demystifies the path to publication

Deadline is in late January.

Ann Friedman Weekly Fellowship

This is an annual programme for non-fiction writers who are not yet established in their careers. It includes mentorship and editing; a $5,000 stipend; regular check-ins to provide structure and accountability; and space in my newsletter where fellows can publish and promote their work.

For more details, please visit their website.

Gloria's Foundation Fellowship

Gloria’s Foundation will select two Fellows for a one-year fellowship, which will take place January-December 2027. This program will offer tools, resources, and a safe and inspiring space for work and organising for Fellows whose work/independent project centres around justice.

Deadline is in November.

MacDowell Fellowships

About 300 artists in seven disciplines are awarded Fellowships each year and the sole criterion for acceptance is artistic excellence. MacDowell encourages applications from artists of all backgrounds and all countries, including literature.

Deadline is in February (specific date varies each year).

The Residency at Casa Gràcia

Each year, Casa Gràcia hosts a cohort of five visual artists and two writers; this is to provide artists with time and space for sustained, independent work. The residency is self-directed and is designed to support concentration, experimentation, and reflection outside of usual professional pressures.

Deadline is in late July.

National Centre for Writing x Escalator Fellow

This programme celebrates writers in the east of England whose voices are underrepresented on UK bookshelves. They offer unpublished fiction writers in the region the chance to develop their work through professional mentoring, as well as creating opportunities for networking and industry skills sessions.

Please check their website for further details.

National Centre for Writing x Emerging Translation Mentorship

NCW’s translation mentoring programme aims to develop successive new cohorts of literary translators into English, particularly for languages whose literature is currently under-represented in English translation.

Applications will open in July.

The Eric Dark Fellowship for Non-fiction

Established in memory of Blue Mountains writer and social activist Eric Dark, this three-week fellowship will be awarded to a non-fiction application of outstanding quality in social, historical or political writing.

For more details, please visit their website.

Geoffrey Garton Creative Arts Creative Writing Fellowship

The College offers a stipend of £13,128 per annum plus an allowance of £2,300 per annum towards the expenses of the Fellow, and provides an office for the duration of the Fellowship. It is intended for a person engaged in any aspect of creative writing, and writing of any style.

Deadline is in March.

The Global Majority and Underrepresented Groups Writing Programme

This programme offers a two-year scholarship for emerging, unagented writers from Global Majority and historically underrepresented backgrounds. Scholars receive sustained support through workshops, one-to-one mentoring, and opportunities to engage with literary agents and publishers.

Please check their website for further updates.

The Deborah Rogers Award

The biennial Deborah Rogers Award gives £10,000 to a previously unpublished writer whose submission of 15,000- 20,000 words demonstrates literary talent and who needs financial support to complete their first book. The submitted work can be fiction, non-fiction, children’s or short stories.

Please follow their website for latest updates and deadlines.

Guggenheim Fellowship

The Guggenheim Fellowship is a mid-career award supporting the work of individuals who have made notable contributions to more than fifty fields across the arts, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and interdisciplinary areas.

Applications close in September.

Princeton Arts Fellowship

Eligible applicants are early career playwrights. The successful candidates will pursue academic excellence in University settings. Fellowships are for two academic years, with a $93,000 salary per year. Fellows are typically expected to teach one undergraduate course per semester.

Deadline is in September.

The Whiting Non-fiction Fellowship

The Whiting offers a grant of $40,000 to ten writers completing a deeply researched and imaginatively composed book-length work of nonfiction for a general adult readership. The grant supports multiyear projects at a crucial mid-process stage, when additional support can meaningfully shape the final work.

For more details, please visit their website.

Oxford Poetry Prize

The winner of the Oxford Poetry Prize will receive £2,000, the runner-up £1,000, and the second runner-up £500. The prize-winning poets will also be offered publication in the print magazine.

Deadline is in late August.

SI Leeds Literary Prize

SI Leeds Literary Prize is a biennial UK literary award for unpublished fiction written by Black and Asian women aged 18 and over. The prize offers support for writers to develop their work and to help build new audiences.

Deadline is in late April.

The Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize

Funded by Brick Lane Bookshop, the competition is open to all UK residents and seeks to discover, publish and promote new, exciting and diverse voices in fiction. From a shortlist of twelve, they select three prize winners. First prize is £1000.

Please follow their website for latest updates and deadlines.

The Markaz Prize

This prize is to discover and uplift exceptional writers from the SWANA region. They seek to recognise and celebrate excellence in two distinct genres, the short story and the literary essay/creative nonfiction.

Applications close in late October.

Pen Parentis Fellowship

One talented writer who is the parent of at least one child under 10 years old will receive $2000 to further their writing career, a year of mentorship, and will be offered the opportunity to read their winning story online at a Pen Parentis Literary Salon.

Please check for more updates on the fellowship's own website.

Dora Maar House Fellowship

For mid-career artists and scholars; offering one month in residence at the Dora Maar House to focus and advance your work. There are also regular monthly Salons (March – November) held to showcase the residents’ work to the local community.

For more details, please visit their website.

Verity Bargate Award (Soho Theatre)

This award is for everyone. First-time writers, late starters, people who’ve been sitting on an idea for years. The winner will receive £12,000 and a full production at Soho Theatre. Alongside the winner of the Award, we will also be selecting another writer to receive the Character 7 Commission. This writer will be commissioned by Soho Theatre and join the 2027 cohort of writers on Soho ReDraft.

Deadline is in April.

Philip Roth Residence in Creative Writing

This prize offers up to 4 months of unfettered writing time for a writer working on a first or second book. In the current application season, The Roth Residence is open to writers in any creative genre in the literary arts. The residency provides an apartment in Bucknell's Writers' Cottage and a stipend of $5,000.

Deadline is in February.

Are you a grant-making body, fellowship provider, or organisation offering opportunities for writers? We’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch to have your opportunities featured here and in our newsletter.