Emerging Writer Fellowships: The Writer's Center

Spring 2011 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.

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. In its first year, 700 people attended Story/Stereo's events. The Writer's Center will sell titles by the Emerging Writers prior to and during their event. You can learn more about Story/Stereo here.

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. For more information on leading workshops with us, please consult our Web site under "About Us," then "Teach for Us."

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 Spring 2009 included poets William Archila (The Art of Exile), Nicole Cooley (The Afflicted Girls), 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 email as 1 continuous email document:

· 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 blind creative selection from your most recent published book-length work in a Word document or RTF format. NO INFORMATION that could reveal the author's identity should be contained within the creative selection. In cases of memoir, we ask that authors strike all instances of his or her name when it appears either through the use of a pseudonym or through the appearance of "XXXX" in the text.

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.

The submissions should be sent to Zachary Fernebok, administrative assistant, at:
zachary.fernebok(at)writer.org (Replace (at) with @ )

Submissions will be received, numbered, and processed by a staff member unrelated to the decision making process in any way. A committee comprised of The Writer's Center board members, staff, 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 Charles Jensen, Director, with questions or for more information at 301-654-8664, or by email at charles.jensen(at)writer.org
(replace (at) with @)

The Writer's Center, established in 1976, 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. For more information, please visit our website.