The application period for the WICW Poetry and Fiction Fellowships is changing in 2024! Our new annual deadline is January 1, but to accommodate those who were unaware of the change, we’ve extended the deadline to February 1, this year. Please note this change in your calendars.
Each year, the WICW Poetry and Fiction Fellowships award stipends of at least $40,000 and generous health benefits, to five emerging writers of poetry and fiction. Please read our instructions and eligibility requirements, below, before clicking here to upload your application.
To be eligible, applicants must have completed or be scheduled to complete an MFA or PhD in Creative Writing by August 15 of the fellowship year (at least one week before the fellowship would begin). Eligible applicants may have published no more than one full-length collection or book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction as of the March 1 deadline. Individuals who have never published a full-length collection or book remain eligible, of course. Successful applicants must commit to reside in the Madison area for the full duration of the Fellowship from mid-August to mid-May (holiday and other travel are of course permitted); to teach one section of undergraduate mixed-genre or single-genre creative writing each semester; to hold no other teaching, graduate study or fellowship obligations; to assist in the selection of the following year’s Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellowships; and in general to participate fully in the life of the Madison writing community during the fellowship period. For more details regarding the responsibilities and privileges of our fellows, please see the main fellowships page.
Applicants should prepare the following materials before applying:
- A $50.00 Application Fee, paid online by credit card.
- A resume or curriculum vitae, concluding with the names, phone numbers, and email addresses of two recommenders.
- A writing sample consisting of either 10 pages of poetry (single-spaced and uploaded as a pdf) or up to 30 pages of fiction (double-spaced and uploaded as a pdf). Fiction applications must consist of either one short story or a novel excerpt. Your name must not appear anywhere on your manuscript, and while previously published work may be submitted, your manuscript must in no way indicate that your work has been published.
Do not include more than one genre in a single submission. You may apply in more than one of our fellowship genres, but you must upload a separate application for each, with separate application fees. If you are submitting short fiction, please do not send more than one short story. The limit is one story no matter how short that story may be. If you send more than one story, we will only read the first. If you are sending a novel excerpt you may (but need not) include a brief synopsis (one or two paragraphs) of the novel, as page one of the manuscript.
The poetry and fiction fellows will be chosen by May 1 each year, and announced on the fellows page. If you have questions concerning these fellowships that are not answered in the FAQ below, please contact Sean Bishop and Ron Kuka, Administrators of the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, at institutemail@english.wisc.edu.
Wisconsin Institute Alumni Spotlight: Jaquira Díaz
Jaquira Díaz was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Miami. She is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, winner of a Whiting Award, a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, and a Lambda Literary Awards finalist. Ordinary Girls was an Indies Introduce Selection, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Notable Selection, an Indie Next Pick, and a Library Reads pick. Díaz's work has been published in The Guardian, Time Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and The Best American Essays 2016, among other publications. She is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Kenyon Review, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing.
Her second book, I Am Deliberate: A Novel, is forthcoming from Algonquin Books. She is Assistant Professor in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Colorado State University.
Fellowship FAQ
Required Degree
- Q: I don’t have an MFA in Creative Writing, but I am a serious writer with a record of publications. May I apply for a fellowship? A: Unfortunately, no. To be eligible for a Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing fellowship, you must have completed an MFA or PhD in Creative Writing by August 15th of the fellowship year. For those who pursued a graduate degree in creative writing outside the USA or Canada, in a country where an MA in Creative Writing (rather than an MFA) is the standard terminal degree, we will except the MA rather than the MFA. But all applicants must have completed a graduate degree in creative writing, regardless of their publication records or other special circumstances.
- Q: I have a graduate degree in a field other than creative writing. Am I eligible for a fellowship? A: Again, we have to say no. This question is usually asked by persons holding PhDs in other fields. Unfortunately, we are not able to award fellowships to persons with PhDs in any other area, including English literature, composition, theater, or other areas of English or theater studies. Even if you have a PhD in English, took graduate-level writing workshops, and wrote a creative dissertation, we still cannot offer you a fellowship if your PhD is not specifically in creative writing.
- Q: May I apply for a fellowship if I have an MA in creative writing? A: Only if you pursued your MA outside the USA or Canada, in a country where an MA in Creative Writing is the standard terminal degree. Since the MFA and Ph.D. in Creative Writing are co-terminal degrees in North America, we only accept those degrees from applicants who completed their graduate degrees in the US, Mexico, or Canada.
Previous Books
- Q: Am I eligible if I have already published a novel or a full-length collection of poetry, short stories, or creative nonfiction? A: Yes. We allow applicants to have published or have forthcoming one full-length book of creative writing prior to the application deadline. If you have published more than one book by that deadline, however, you are not eligible.
- Q: I have not published a book-length collection. Am I still eligible? Should I bother applying? A: Yes! Our reading process is anonymous; most of our fellows will not have published a collection prior to being selected. Since we opened the fellowships to applicants with one book in 2012, the majority of our fellows have not published or sold a book-length work prior to their acceptance.
- Q: I’ve published more than one book that is neither fiction, nor poetry, nor creative nonfiction (e.g. a cookbook, a car repair manual, or an ESL textbook). Am I eligible for the fellowship? A: Yes. Books that are not creative writing do not count for fellowship purposes. If you are unsure if your book is considered a creative work, feel free to contact us.
- Q: In addition to one collection of creative work, I’ve edited an anthology. Am I eligible for the fellowship? A: Yes.
- Q: Am I still eligible if I published one full-length book of creative writing, plus one or more chapbooks? A: Yes. A chapbook is not considered a book for fellowship purposes. However, please note that we regard any poetry collection exceeding 45 pages to be a full-length manuscript, even if the press labels it a “chapbook.”
- Q: If I’ve published more than one full-length book of creative writing, but in two or more different genres, may I still apply for a fellowship? A: No. Since the fellowship is provided to give writers time to work on a first or second book of creative work, you are no longer eligible to apply, even though your books were in different genres.
Writing Sample (fiction and poetry fellowships only)
- Q: May I submit a slightly longer writing sample than the rules permit? A: No. Additional material beyond the stated page limits will not be read.
- Q: If I write very short stories, may I send more than one? May I upload two 15-page stories instead of one 30-page story? A: No to both questions. You may submit only one short story, no matter how short, even if that means you are sending fewer than 30 pages of work. If you send more than one story, only the first will be read.
- Q: You say each poem must begin on a new page. What do I do about a poem that won’t fit on just one page? A: Sorry for the confusion here. You may, of course, continue the poem on as many pages as necessary. You may, for example, submit a single 10-page poem, or two 5-page poems, or five 2-page poems. What we are asking is that each new poem should begin on a new page.
- Q: May I upload/e-mail additional material, or substitute another story, or otherwise update my application at a later date? A: No. Only the original material submitted with the application will be considered.
Selection Process (fiction and poetry fellowships only)
- Q: Could you give me an idea of how you go about selecting your poetry and fiction fellows? A: Sure. Submittable applications are made anonymous to everyone but the Program Administrators; only the writing samples themselves are visible to the committee. The anonymous fiction manuscripts are assigned to a panel of fiction judges, and the anonymous poetry manuscripts are assigned to a panel of poetry judges. The judges then read and evaluate the manuscripts, narrowing down the field until each panel has selected the fellowship recipients and several alternates. Judges who recognize work by former students or close personal acquaintances recuse themselves with respect to that work. Only after the judges have chosen and ranked the best manuscripts are those selected manuscripts matched up with the applicants’ other materials. This is the first time the judges learn the names of, and other information about, the winners and alternates.
- Q: Who are the judges? A: The exact composition of the fiction and poetry panels changes from year to year, but panels always consist of members of the creative writing faculty, as well as current and former Institute fellows. There are at least five judges on each final committee.
- Q: When and how will you let me know your decision? A: We make our decisions and email or phone the selected poetry, fiction, and HEAF fellows by May 1. As soon as we have all of our acceptances we post the names of our new fellows on this website and notify other applicants via e-mail of our selections.
- Q: Is there a certain style of writing you favor? A: While selecting the fellows is a subjective process in which personal taste plays a large role, we do not intentionally restrict ourselves to certain styles of writing (as you will see from the aesthetic range of fellows throughout our history). Because the composition of our selection panel changes annually, it is hard to predict what kind of work will speak to a panel in a given year. All we can suggest is that you send in what you believe to be your very best work.
- Q: Do I have to indicate which of the fellowships I’m applying for (e.g. if I’m applying for a poetry fellowship, do I have to specify whether I’m applying for a Halls or a Wallace fellowship)? A: No. The Institute will assign the fellowships; all you have to do is let us know the genre in which you’re applying.