Emerging Writers Fellowship: The Writer's Center

Emerging Writers Fellowship

The Writer's Center, metropolitan Washington, D.C.'s community gathering place for writers and readers, is currently accepting submissions for several competitive Emerging Writer Fellowships for Fall 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. You can learn more about Story/Stereo by visiting our website.

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.

Fellows receive an all-inclusive honorarium of $250 to help offset their travel costs.
Fellows for Spring 2011 include poet Susanna Lang (Even Now); nonfiction writer Eli Hastings (Falling Room); and fiction writers Matthew Pitt (Attention Please Now), James Hannaham (God Says No), Andrew Foster Altschul (Deus Ex Machina), and Merrill Feitell (Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes).

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 send:
•--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 creative selection from your most recent published book-length work in a Word document or RTF format:
•--Poetry: up to 10 pages of poems (1 poem per page).
•--Fiction & Nonfiction: up to 16 pages of text double-spaced with 1-inch margins.
•--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.

A committee comprised of The Writer's Center board members, workshop leaders, and members will evaluate submissions on behalf of our community of writers.

The deadline to submit is April 15, 2011.
Applicants are welcome to contact Kyle Semmel, Publications & Communications Manager, with questions or for more information at 301-654-8664 or by e-mail at:

kyle.semmel(at)writer.org (replace (at) with @ in sending e-mail).

Please send your submission materials to Zachary Fernebok at:

The Writer's Center
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20815

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 250 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.