Genre: Creative Nonfiction

Terry Tempest Williams Creative Nonfiction Prize

North American Review
Entry Fee: 
$23
Deadline: 
April 1, 2025
A prize of $1,000 and publication in North American Review is given annually for an essay. Lyric essays, memoir-style essays, and literary journalism are eligible. Robin Hemley will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit an essay of 500 to 10,000 words with a $23 entry fee, which includes an issue of North American Review, by April 1. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Emerging Writer’s Contest

Ploughshares
Entry Fee: 
$30
Deadline: 
May 15, 2025
Three prizes of $2,000 each and publication in Ploughshares are given annually for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. Each winner also receives a consultation with the literary agency Aevitas Creative Management. Writers who have not published a book or a chapbook with a print run of over 300 copies are eligible. Using only the online submission system, submit three to five pages of poetry or up to 6,000 words of prose with a $30 entry fee (there is no entry fee for current subscribers), which includes a subscription to Ploughshares, by May 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Aurora Polaris Creative Nonfiction Award

Trio House Press
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
May 15, 2025
A prize of $1,000, publication by Trio House Press, and 20 author copies is given annually for a book of nonfiction by a writer living in the United States. The editors will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 45,000 to 80,000 words and a brief bio with a $25 entry fee by May 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Italian Prose in Translation Award

American Literary Translators Association
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
March 17, 2025
A prize of $5,000 is given annually for a book of fiction or nonfiction translated from Italian into English and published in the previous year. Publishers or translators may submit a book published in 2024 by March 17. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

Creative Nonfiction Grants

Whiting Foundation
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
April 23, 2025
Up to 10 grants of $40,000 each are given annually for creative nonfiction works-in-progress to enable writers to complete their books. Creative nonfiction writers under contract with a publisher in Canada, the United Kingdom, or the United States as of April 23 are eligible. Using only the online submission system, submit up to 25,000 words of a book-in-progress; the original proposal to publishers that led to the contract (if applicable); a signed contract; a statement of work yet to be completed; a plan for the use of funds; a list of grants, fellowships, or other funding received for the book-in-progress; a résumé; and a letter of support from the book’s editor or publisher by April 23. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

La Baldi Residency

November/December 2025

The La Baldi Residency, sponsored by Cultivate, offers two-week and one-month residencies from April through October to poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators, in Montegiovi, Italy. Residents are provided with private lodging in apartments, a house, or a palazzo with a fully equipped kitchen and outdoor sitting area. Individual writers and collaborative teams may apply.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
April 1, 2026
Rolling Admissions: 
no
Application Deadline: 
January 2, 2026
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
November 16, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

La Baldi Residency, 15504 Moravia Court, Derwood, MD 20855. Susan Main, Cultivate Director.

Susan Main
Cultivate Director
Contact City: 
Montegiovi
Country: 
IT
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction
Translation

Iceland Writers Retreat

March/April 2025

The 2025 Iceland Writers Retreat was from April 23 to April 27 at the Fosshotel in Reykjavík. The retreat features workshops, panels, lectures, receptions, and time to write for fiction and nonfiction writers, as well as literary tours of Iceland. The faculty included fiction writers Kevin Chong, Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia, Meng Jin, Jonas Hassen Khemiri, and Curtis Sittenfeld; fiction and nonfiction writers Jann Arden, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Helen Macdonald, and Danny Ramadan; and nonfiction writers Thordis Elva and Rick Jervis. The cost of the retreat was 310,000 ISK (approximately $2,202).

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
November 16, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
November 16, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
November 16, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Iceland Writers Retreat, P.O. Box 76, 212 Gardabaer, Iceland. Erica Jacobs Green and Eliza Reid, Cofounders. 

Erica Jacobs Green and Eliza Reid
Cofounders
Contact City: 
Reykjavík
Country: 
IS
Genre: 
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction
Tags: 
writing retreats

Squam Writes Retreat

March/April 2025

Squam Writes offered a retreat from June 5 to June 8 to fiction and creative nonfiction writers at Rockywold Deephaven Camps, a historic resort campsite on the shores of Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire. Residents were provided lodging in cottages, cabins, and lodge rooms along the shores of the lake; time to write; and the opportunity to join optional craft-focused workshops led by the codirectors as well as optional peer critique groups. Professional feedback on your writing was available for an additional $75. The faculty included novelists Jilly Gagnon and Melissa Hed.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
November 16, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
November 16, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
November 16, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Squam Writes Retreat, 18 Bacon Road, Holderness, NH 03245. Jilly Gagnon and Melissa Hed, Codirectors.

Jilly Gagnon and Melissa Hed
Codirectors
Contact City: 
Holderness
Contact State: 
NH
Country: 
US
Genre: 
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction

Fiction Meets Science Residency

March/April 2025

The Fiction Meets Science Residency offers up to two residencies of three to ten months annually to fiction and nonfiction writers at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study in Delmenhorst, Germany. Residents are provided with a private apartment and office space at the institute, where they will connect with an interdisciplinary community of guest scientists. Residents are expected to give one lecture or reading and to attend the weekly lectures given by the scientist fellows at the institute.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
November 16, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
November 16, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
November 16, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Fiction Meets Science Residency, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Lehmkuhlenbusch 4, 27753 Delmenhorst, Germany. Susan M. Gaines, Project Director. 

Susan M. Gaines
Project Director
Contact City: 
Delmenhorst
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
27753
Country: 
DE
Genre: 
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction

Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference and Bookfair

March/April 2025

The 2025 AWP Conference and Bookfair was held from March 26 to March 29 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and also included a virtual component comprising prerecorded and live streamed events. The conference featured panel discussions, readings, discussion rooms, and a bookfair. Prior to March 25, the cost of the conference for in-person preregistration, including all virtual programming and content, was $375 for nonmembers, $255 for members, $105 for seniors, and $70 for students.

Type: 
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
November 16, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
November 16, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
November 16, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference and Bookfair, 440 Monticello Avenue, Suite 1802, PMB 73708, Norfolk, VA 23510. (240) 696-8273.

Contact City: 
Los Angeles
Contact State: 
CA
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
90015
Country: 
US
Add Image: 
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction
Tags: 
conferences

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