National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships

Up to two years

Our support for a project may begin any time between January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025.

Applicants will receive notification of awards and rejections no sooner than December 2023.

Up to $25,000

You are eligible to apply in Prose if you meet the following requirements:

• You are a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
• You have not received two or more Fellowships (in poetry, prose, or translation) from the National Endowment for the Arts. If you have received any award from the National Endowment for the Arts, you must have submitted acceptable Final Reports to the NEA by their due date(s).
• You have not received any National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship (in poetry or prose) or Translation Fellowship on or after January 1, 2015 (FY 2015).
• This is your only application to the NEA for FY 2024 individual support. You may not apply for both a Literature Fellowship under this deadline and a Translation Project under the January 12, 2023 deadline.
• You have had published, between January 1, 2016, and March 8, 2023:
  • At least five (5) different short stories, works of short fiction, excerpts from novels or memoirs, or creative essays (or any combination thereof) in two or more literary magazines, journals, anthologies, or publications that regularly include fiction and/or creative nonfiction as a portion of their content; or
  • A novel or novella; or
  • A volume of short fiction or a collection of short stories; or
  • A volume of creative nonfiction.
  • Work must have been published for the first time with an eligible publisher between these dates, not only reprinted or reissued in another format during this period. Eligible publishers have a competitive selection process and offer some service or services to their writers, such as editing and proofreading; formatting and design; and/or promotion, marketing, and distribution. Student-led publications and publications that primarily print work by persons who are affiliated with a particular academic institution are not eligible.
  • You may use digital, audio, or online publications to establish eligibility, provided that the publisher has a competitive selection process and offers professional editing. If the online publication or website no longer exists, you must provide, upon request, sufficient evidence that your work once appeared online. If sufficient evidence cannot be provided, the online publication will not be eligible.