Here are 28 grants and fellowships for writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays, and for journalists, ranging from a few hundred dollars to $75,000. There are also some emergency grants for writers. They are either open for submissions now, or will open soon.

Many of these are open to all writers from around the world, while others have specific restrictions. I have noted deadlines and restrictions, when applicable, and when the information was available.

– S. Kalekar

Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship in Creative Writing
This is for writers of fiction or poetry completing their first book. It provides a stipend and office space. Each fellow teaches a creative writing workshop at Colgate University each semester and gives a public reading of his or her work. Those who have completed MFA, MA or PhD in creative writing and working on their first book are encouraged to apply.
Value: $42,745, travel expenses, health and life insurance
Deadline: 15 February 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.

PEN America’s Writers’ Emergency Fund and Fund for Writers and Editors with HIV/AIDS
This is a small grants program for US-based writers or journalists. It is for professional—published or produced—writers in acute or unexpected financial crisis. The Emergency Fund also administers the Fund for Writers and Editors with HIV/AIDS; grants up to $2,000 are made given to professional writers and editors who face serious financial difficulties due to HIV or AIDS-related illness.
Value: Up to $2,000
Deadline:28 February 2020
Open for: US writers
Details here.

Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center: Writer in Residence
The residency includes lodging at a loft apartment in Piggott, Arkansas. The writer-in-residence will also have the opportunity to work in the studio where Ernest Hemingway worked on ‘A Farewell to Arms’. The writer is expected to serve as mentor for a week-long retreat for writers at the educational center. Candidates with an MA or MFA in a relevant field are preferred.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 28 February 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.

The Mastheads Writers’ Residency
Five writers across disciplines (poetry, fiction, non-fiction, translation, playwriting, comics, and more) are awarded residencies. The residency runs for the month of July in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The application includes a 10-page writing sample. 
Value: $900
Deadline: 29 February 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.

Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellowship
This is for writers who want to work on their manuscripts and who have experience in the coaching or teaching of other writers either through workshops and/or mentoring inside or outside a formal academic setting. Candidates must supply a literary CV, a letter explaining why they want to work in Cork, and a course outline for a four morning short story masterclass aimed at writers who already have periodical publication success. 
Value: A monthly stipend of €2,500, totalling €7,500, accommodation
Deadline: 29 February 2020
Open for: Writers outside of Ireland of international standing; must have at least two full-length  works of fiction published, of which at least one must be a short story collection
Details here.

Speculative Literature Foundation: Three grants
They are currently open for three grants. They also have some others which will open for applications later in the year – here is an announcement of the changed schedule for these grants.

— Working Class Writers Grant
This international speculative literature grant is for working class, blue-collar, poor, and homeless writers who have been historically underrepresented in speculative fiction. Writers are to send a work sample (up to 10 pages of poetry, 10 pages of drama, or 5,000 words of fiction or creative non-fiction), and a short statement.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 29 February 2020
Open for: Writers from a working class background (see guidelines)
Details here.

— Older Writers Grant
This is for a writer who is 50 years of age or older at the time of grant application, and is intended to assist such writers who are just starting to work at a professional level. The writing application sample could be of poetry, fiction, drama, or creative non-fiction. A writing sample (up to 10 pages of poetry, 10 pages of drama, or 5,000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction — if sending a segment of a novel, novella, or novelette, include a one-page synopsis as well) is part of the application.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 31 March 2020
Open for: All speculative fiction writers above 50
Details here.

— A. C. Bose Grant for South Asian Speculative Literature
This grant is to a South Asian/South Asian Diaspora writer developing speculative fiction. It supports adult fiction, but work that is also accessible to older children and teens will be given preference in the jury process. The donors hope that this grant will help develop work that will let young people imagine different worlds and possibilities. The application includes a fiction writing sample.  
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 31 March 2020
Open for: South Asian and South Asian Diaspora writers
Details here.

International Writers Project
This is a fellowship with residency to provide sanctuary and support for established creative writers – fiction writers, playwrights, and poets – who are persecuted in their home countries or are actively prevented from pursuing free expression in their literary art.  The Fellow will be a member of a supportive community at Brown University, Rhode Island. The fellowship will be accompanied by a series of lectures, readings and other events that highlight the national artistic and political culture of the writer and address the global issues of human rights and free expression. Fellows can apply themselves or be nominated.
Value: A stipend, residency, relocation funds, and health benefits; aid for Visa and relocation process
Deadline: 1 March 2020
Open for: Persecuted established creative writers
Details here.

US-Japan Creative Artists Exchange Fellowships
This grant offers artists, including writers of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and playwrights, the opportunity to work in Japan. They invite leading contemporary and traditional artists from the US to apply for a unique collaborative artistic fellowship designed to highlight US-Japan artistic partnerships. Applicants must be professional creative artists (see guidelines for details about writers’ publishing requirements) working in their field. Proficiency in Japanese language is not required. Their guidelines say, “Artists should have compelling reasons for their residency in Japan, and they should conduct preliminary research to identify contacts there.  The Commission encourages artists to consider collaboration with Japanese colleagues, as appropriate for the artistic field, and artists are free to interact with artists anywhere in the country.”
Value: $20,000 for three months; additional $4,000 a month up to five months
Deadline: 1 March for cover sheet, and 29 March 2020 for narrative application and work samples
Open for: US Citizens or permanent residents
Details here.

Scripps Fellowships for Environmental Journalism
Five fellowships are awarded each year at the University of Boulder, Colorado. This is for journalists interested in deepening and broadening their knowledge of environmental issues. Applicants must have a minimum of five years full-time professional journalism experience and have completed an undergraduate degree. Applicants may include reporters, editors, producers, photojournalists, documentarians, and feature writers. Both salaried staff and full-time freelancers are welcome to apply. Prior experience in covering the environment is not required. They welcome applications from international applicants; however, the applicants must be authorized to work in the US to be eligible for this position.
Value: $71,000
Deadline: 1 March 2020
Open for: All journalists (see above)
Details here.

Edward R. Murrow Press Fellowship
Applicants must have covered international news as a working journalist for print, broadcast, or online media widely available in the United States, and must be US citizens. The Fellow spends nine months full-time in residence at the Council for Foreign Relations’ headquarters in New York. The program enables the Fellow to engage in sustained analysis and writing, expand his or her intellectual and professional horizons, and extensively participate in CFR’s active program of meetings and events.
Value:$75,000 and a modest travel grant
Deadline: 1 March 2020
Open for: US citizens
Details here.

National Endowment for the Arts
These literature fellowships are for poetry, to buy creative writers time for writing. Applicants are to submit a poetry manuscript of 7-10 pages and a list of their publications (see eligibility guidelines). These grants alternate between poetry and prose each year; several grants are made at a time.
Value: $25,000
Deadline: 11 March 2020
Open for: Published US poets
Details here.

Hodson Trust – John Carter Brown Library Fellowship
This fellowship at Providence and Chestertown supports work by academics, independent scholars and writers working on significant projects relating to the literature, history, culture, or art of the Americas before 1830. Candidates with a US history topic are strongly encouraged to concentrate on the period prior to 1801. The fellowship is also open to filmmakers, novelists, creative and performing artists, and others working on projects that draw on this period of history. Candidates are encouraged to consult the John Carter Brown Library’s collections online prior to submitting an application.
Value: $5,000/month (total $20,000), housing and university privileges
Deadline: 15 March 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.

Cave Canem Residency
This is a residency for African American poets at The Rose O’Neill Literary House in Chestertown, Maryland. It provides poets with the uninterrupted time and space to focus solely on their writing projects for a full month. The application includes a 10-page poetry sample. The Fellow is awarded the use of a private, single-family residence for the entire month of June.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 15 March 2020 (postmarked)
Open for: African American poets
Details here.

The Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism Initiative Fellowship

Each cycle, Moment—with the help of an advisory board of journalists—selects one DPIJI Fellow, who receives $5,000 to produce a story. Fellows work closely with Moment editors and selected mentors to publish their completed project in Moment as well as partner media outlets. The application includes writing samples – three stories from a print or digital publication, including at least one long-form story – and a brief description of the story you want to investigate and how familiar you are with the issue, among other things.
Value: $5,000
Deadline: 30 March 2020
Open for: Journalists aged 22-28
Details here.

Hugo House Writer-in-Residence
This residency in Seattle is for practicing, published writers of prose and writing teachers who are experienced working with writers of all levels in a traditional workshop setting, and on a one-on-one basis as a mentor. They should have a specific artistic project they are working on during their residency (e.g., developing a manuscript for publication) and should have a special interest in helping writers become better writers and fostering an appreciation of the craft. The application includes a writing sample of 10 pages. Their guidelines also say, “If you do not meet some of the eligibility requirements, but have demonstrated success in other categories, our panel will weigh the components of your application accordingly. “Value: $500 per month for nine months, additional compensation for Hugo Classes
Deadline: 31 March 2020
Open for: Published writers
Details here.

Alpine Fellowship Prizes: Two prizes for creative writers
Apart from themed Writing and Theatre prizes detailed below, they also have the Visual Arts Prize, and the Academic Writing Prize.

— Writing Prize

This international prize is awarded for the best piece of writing on the theme of ‘Forgiveness and Retribution’ (up to 2,500 words in any genre), which is the theme of the 2020 Alpine Fellowship Annual Symposium. The winner and two runners-up are invited to attend the Fjällnäs (Sweden) symposium. The award will be presented by poet John Burnside, who is also the head judge.
Value: £10,000, £3,000, £2,000
Deadline: 1 April 2020
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.

— Theatre Prize
This prize is awarded for the best play on the theme of ‘Forgiveness and Retribution’ Aimed at encouraging theatre writers at the start of their careers to explore and challenge philosophical ideas using the dramatic form. Apart from the cash prize, the winner also gets a rehearsed reading at the Fellowship’s annual Symposium to which they will be invited to attend. Runners up will be invited to attend the Fjällnäs symposium to exhibit their work. To apply, applicants must send: 1) A treatment of your idea in response to the theme; up to 500 words; 2) A sample of previous work of at least 10 pages; and 3) A 3-4 sample pages of your proposed script or a 1-2 detailed page synopsis of your story. The final piece must be 45 minutes in length and require no more than 4 actors.
Value: £3,000
Deadline: 1 April 2020
Open for: All playwrights
Details here and here.

The Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers
The three-month fellowships are to afford writers uninterrupted time to focus on their work at an apartment in Carson McCuller’s childhood home in Columbus, Georgia, free from the distractions of daily life and other professional responsibilities. A spouse or companion is welcome. The application includes a writing sample of up to 20 pages.
Value: $5,000
Deadline: 1 April 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.

Elizabeth So Fellowship
This fellowship offers Native American writers the time and solitude to help finish a book that is already in progress. Writers must have a novel, collection of stories or poems, a memoir, or other prose work (fiction, non-fiction, or hybrid) in progress (30 pages minimum). The fellowship includes a month’s stay at Missoula, Montana.
Value: $1,000 for food and travel
Deadline: 5 April 2020
Open for: Native American writers
Details here.

2020 ALTA Travel Fellowship
Each year, between four and six fellowships are awarded to emerging (unpublished or minimally published) translators to help them pay for hotel and travel expenses to the annual American Literary Translators Association conference (November 11-14 , 2020 in Tucson, AZ). Among the fellowships is the Peter K. Jansen Memorial Travel Fellowship, which is preferentially awarded to an emerging translator of color or a translator working from an underrepresented Diaspora or stateless language. Also see their other awards for published works, some of which do not charge a submission fee.
Value: $1,000 each
Deadline: 20 April 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here.

Whiting Foundation: Creative Nonfiction Grant
Up to eight grants will be awarded to US writers of creative non-fiction, for books under contract by US publishers – the subjects are history, cultural or political reportage, biography, memoir, the sciences, philosophy, criticism, food or travel writing, graphic nonfiction, and personal essays, among other categories. It is intended for multiyear book projects requiring large amounts of deep and focused research, thinking, and writing, after significant work has been accomplished. The work should be intended for general, not academic, audiences. One of the application requirements is three sample chapters, or up to 25,000 words.
Value: $40,000
Deadline: 20 April 2020
Open for: US writers with a contracted book
Details here.

Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships
These fellowships are for young poets who are US residents or citizens. Application includes up to 10 pages of poetry.
Application period: 1 March-30 April 2020
Value: Fellowships of $25,800 each
Open for: US poets aged 21-31 years
Details here.

Authors League Fund
This emergency fund helps US-based writers, regardless of citizenship. It is for authors, dramatists, journalists, and poets. Recipients must be career writers with a substantial body of work in one of more of the following categories: 1) Book authors with at least one title published by an established traditional publisher. Authors with multiple titles are given priority; 2) Dramatists whose full-length plays have been produced in mid-size or large theaters and/or published by established dramatic presses; 3) Journalists, critics, essayists, short story writers, and poets with a substantial body of work in periodicals with a national or broad circulation. Common applicants include: writers of any age in ill health, or supporting a dependent family member in ill health; writers facing overwhelming medical or dental expenses; writers suffering financial crises unrelated to health, such as unexpected loss of income, temporary unemployment or underemployment, eviction proceedings, or similar; writers struggling after a natural disaster. Priority is given to sick and/or older authors in need.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: Rolling
Open for: US-based writers
Details here.

American Society of Journalists and Authors: Writers Emergency Assistance Fund
The fund is for helping established freelance writers who, because of advanced age, illness, disability, a natural disaster, or an extraordinary professional crisis are unable to work. Writers need not be members of ASJA, but must have credentials that would qualify them for an ASJA membership. Writers need not live in the US.
Value:Unspecified
Deadline:Rolling
Open for:All established freelance writers
Details here.

Writers’ Trust of Canada: Woodcock Fund
This is a last-resource emergency resource for Canadian writers who face unforeseen financial crisis, who are engaged in a book-length work. Eligible categories are fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, playwriting, or children’s literature. The program is not intended to be a means of support for writers challenged to earn an income. A crisis of some nature is necessary to be considered. Screenwriting, formulistic romance writing or journalism are not eligible.
Value: CAD2,000-10,000
Deadline: Rolling
Open for: Canadian writers who have published at least two books, or an equivalent body of work
Details here and here.

SFWA Emergency Medical Fund

This is a fund created by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, to help SF/fantasy writers pay for funds not covered by medical insurance. The fund is only to cover short-term medical expenses, for emergencies that interfere with the ability to write.  
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: Rolling
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.

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Author Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She is the author of 182 Short Fiction Publishers. She can be reached here.