Overview

The Literary Arts Fund was established in 2025 to dramatically increase funding for and the visibility of the nonprofit literary arts field toward ensuring a healthy and more robust U.S. literary culture in support of creative writers. The fund will award at least $10 million in grants to the nonprofit literary arts field in each of the next five years, concluding in 2031.

The Literary Arts Fund will hold open calls for two opportunities in 2026: general operating grants and innovation project grants.

Key Dates

• November 10, 2025: Start of open call for general operating grant applications
• November 13, 2025: Information session on 2026 general operating and innovation project grants
• December 19, 2025: Deadline for general operating grant applications
• By May 30, 2026: General operating grant applicants and recipients are notified
• June 2026 (TBD): Open call for innovation project grant applications
• August 2026 (TBD): Deadline for innovation project grant applications
• November 2026 (TBD): Innovation project grant applicants and recipients are notified

Eligibility Requirements

Literary arts nonprofits (including fiscally sponsored literary arts organizations and publishers) based in the U.S. and whose primary mission directly supports creative writers and their artistic work in any one of the following ways are eligible to apply for the Literary Arts Fund’s 2026 general operating and innovation project grants: 

• Present them at public events such as festivals, readings, open mics, spoken word performances, workshops, lectures, or conversations;
• Publish their work in print or digital publications such as books, chapbooks, literary journals, magazines, or websites;
• Provide them with writing residencies, retreats, mentorship, or workshops;
• Build their readership and following through digital or print feature articles, interviews, reviews, online archives and podcasts; and,
• Recognize their artistic achievement through grants, fellowships, or prizes.

Furthermore, to be eligible to apply, literary arts nonprofits must: 

• Serve adult creative writers and audiences; 
• Have been established for three years or more, based on the year of incorporation or contracted partnership with a fiscal sponsor; 
• Have an executive director who has served in their role for at least twelve consecutive months; and 
• Have an annual operating budget of at least $50,000, in excess of in-kind (i.e., non-cash) contributions.

The Literary Arts Fund’s grantmaking strategy does not include the following:

• Nonprofit organizations and publishers whose primary mission is not focused on the literary arts and creative writers of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction (distinguished from journalism or scholarship), or hybrid works.
• Literary arts nonprofits, publishers, initiatives, and projects that are part of and funded by a college or university.
• Nonprofit literary organizations and publishers whose primary mission is to present, publish, or support young writers.
• Arts education organizations that focus on increasing K-12 students’ access to the arts and learning through the arts, in and out of school.
• Literacy organizations that focus on developing or strengthening youth or adult reading and writing skills and abilities.
• Academic, school, and public libraries.
• Trade and service organizations whose mission is focused primarily on serving other literary arts nonprofits.

Using Submittable

• You will need to create a free Submittable account or sign in with Google or Facebook credentials to apply.
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