The great E. L. Doctorow once compared writing to “driving at night in the fog.” With longer projects, this journey often takes years, and the destination—publication—is not guaranteed. So what does it take to persevere and finish the work? While there is no magic formula, some measure of external validation can make a tremendous difference. Writing grants and fellowships can offer not only a vote of confidence, but also much-needed financial support. These awards can also provide professional guidance and an entrée to the publishing world. Here are just a few opportunities that can inspire writers to persist.
Last year best-selling author and literacy advocate James Patterson launched his “Go Finish Your Book” Campaign, designed to give promising writers the resources to complete their manuscripts. In September 2025, Patterson awarded grants of up to $50,000 each to writers in various genres, including memoir, literary fiction, and graphic novel. Partnering with organizations such as the Authors Guild and the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, Patterson selected twelve inaugural grant recipients. “I wanted to give these writers a little time, a little space, and a push to say: Your voice matters—now go finish your book,” said Patterson in a press release. For winner Jungin Angie Lee, the grant did just that, allowing her to “focus on making [her] short story collection the best version of itself it can be.” While the future of this particular initiative is still being determined, Patterson remains committed to advancing writers’ careers. Visit the author’s website and social media pages to learn about forthcoming opportunities.
Another successful author who understood the challenges of getting a writing career off the ground was the late novelist James Jones. To honor his legacy, the annual James Jones First Novel Fellowship, cosponsored by the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University, goes to a U.S. writer who has not yet published a book. Based on the strength of the first fifty pages and a synopsis of a novel-in-progress, the winner receives $12,000, while first and second runners-up receive $3,000 and $2,000, respectively. James Jones Literary Society president Laurie Loewenstein describes emotional calls with winners who have said the funding helped them quit their second jobs for a year or pay their rent. Agents and editors often “perk up their ears” when winners are announced, opening doors to future book deals. Above all, she says, “It’s affirmation.” Applications are open annually from October 1 through March 15.
Like Patterson and Jones, the late writer and social activist Barbara Deming wanted to pay it forward. Today the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund gives grants of $500 to $2,000 to early- and mid-career women writers and visual artists whose work reflects feminist values. “Recipients have been able to finish long-delayed drafts, revise unpolished work, or start new projects,” says grants administrator Kira Tucker, who advises applicants to select a writing sample that “gives insight into the larger project and allows [their] craft to shine.” When outlining a budget, think big and “don’t hesitate to request the amount your project truly needs.” Submissions open in January, in even years for fiction awards and odd years for nonfiction and poetry, with a cap of two hundred fifty submissions per genre.
Certain family foundations are also stalwart supporters of writers’ careers. Established in 2010, the de Groot Foundation invests in the literary arts through grants and other initiatives. “Writers have a sustainable power,” says Clydette de Groot, who directs the foundation with her husband, Charles. “Through their words, they have the ability to shape, heal, and educate societies.” The foundation’s Courage to Write Grants were designed for writers across genres. When evaluating applications, de Groot says, “we like writers to be deep enough into a project that we can see it having an ending.” They also enjoy forging ongoing relationships, offering continuation and completion grants to help previous grantees “push their work over the finish line.” The foundation is currently reevaluating its grants program but plans to announce open calls in the near future.
Beyond direct funding, the de Groot Foundation sponsors contests and fellowships through like-minded organizations such as Pen Parentis, which offers critical resources for parent-writers. The annual Pen Parentis Writing Fellowship for New Parents goes to a writer with at least one child under ten. Applicants submit short fiction with a low word count that changes annually; this year, it’s up to 440 words. The goal, says founder and executive director M. M. De Voe, is to “incentivize applicants to write a new piece, so that every parent who enters reconnects with their writing self.” The winner receives $2,000, publication in Dreamers Creative Writing magazine, yearlong mentorship, and the opportunity to read their work at a Pen Parentis literary salon. In 2026, submissions were open from March 1 to April 17; check back in 2027 for similar deadlines for the next award cycle.
Other programs that help writers overcome obstacles include the PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship, the PEN/Bare Life Review Grants, and the FSG Writer’s Fellowship. Reflecting the belief that “literature should embrace the diversity of voices that make up our nation,” the PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship recognizes early-career writers from marginalized communities. The virtual five-month program pairs approximately ten fellows per year with mentors who provide guidance for a current project. Fellows receive a $1,500 honorarium, along with introductions to publishing professionals, industry-focused workshops, and forums to share their work. Sabir Sultan, World Voices Festival and literary programs director at PEN America, summarizes the fellowship’s impact with one word: community. Writers leave “connected with a more established writer who has served as their mentor, with each other, and with a large alumni network,” he says. These connections are key to “surmounting [the industry’s] systemic barriers.” Similarly, the PEN/Bare Life Review Grants seek to bolster voices on the political margins with grants of $5,000 for works-in-progress by immigrant and refugee writers, “recognizing that the literature of migration is of inherent and manifest value.”
Legendary publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux launched its fellowship in 2021 for emerging writers from underrepresented backgrounds. “We are aware of how distant publishing can seem, and literary publishing even more so, and wanted to make our part of the work more visible and accessible to those who haven’t been given ready access in the past,” says FSG’s editor in chief, Jenna Johnson. In addition to a $15,000 award, each fellow is paired with two in-house editorial mentors and introduced to various departments to “demystify the process by which a manuscript becomes a published book.” Johnson adds: “The future of literature depends on the variety, urgency, and vibrancy of the work we publish. For books to continue as a culture-changing force, we must be sure that the reading and writing community is growing and everyone feels welcome.” Applications for the 2027 FSG Fellowship will open in mid-May; applications for the PEN/Bare Life Review Grants are due June 1. The PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship will reopen for applications in January 2027.
While many fellowships and grants are open to writers nationwide, others support local scribes. For example, the Oregon Literary Fellowships, sponsored by Literary Arts, fund writers living in Oregon. Every winter the organization awards $4,000 fellowships to writers of poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, drama, and young readers’ literature, as well as two $10,000 Career Fellowships. “By offering funds to both emerging and established writers, we hope these fellowships lend support to the various ways of being a writer while highlighting the remarkable vibrancy and depth of literary talent in Oregon,” says Alexa Winik, Literary Arts’ Programs for Writers associate manager. Submissions will be open from June to early August for the next round of fellowships. Also consider the Grants for Artist Projects, unrestricted grants for poets and prose writers based in Washington state; this year’s deadline is June 22.
And on the East Coast, the Center for Fiction/Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellowships are given annually to nine early-career, New York City–based fiction writers. In addition to $5,000 and space to write at the Center for Fiction Writers Studio, fellows receive mentorship from independent editors and tools to understand “how books are bought, marketed, and distributed,” says writing programs associate Sebastian Mazza. While selection is highly competitive, Mazza encourages applicants to be true to themselves: “If the writing that results is somewhat messy, maybe it ought to be, or maybe your fellowship year will provide you with precisely the support you need to finally finish.” The submission window runs the month of July for the Center for Fiction Fellowships.
Ushering a longer work into the world is a test of stamina, but fortunately these awards—and many others—can make the lengthy process a little less grueling. To find out about other funding opportunities, search your local/state arts council listings or directories available at your nearest public library. Applying is worthwhile, not only for the potential material benefits, but for the emotional ones. As Winik puts it, the recognition offers “both an antidote to the intensely private, and sometimes isolating, nature of the writing life, as well as timely encouragement to keep going.” And even if you’re not named a fellow or grantee, de Groot says, the act of applying forces writers to “commit to their projects on a deeper level, boosting their belief in their own work.” That renewed belief could give you the extra fuel to power through to the final page.
Kate Schmier is a writer and editor who hails from Metro Detroit and lives in New York City. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Tin House, Apogee Journal, Lilith, Paper Brigade, and elsewhere.
Thumbnail credit: Matthew David Roberts