The Forge Fellowship is an experimental project designed to foster literary talent amongst often underrepresented groups of writers. In 2018, its inaugural year, the Forge will award two Fellowships: one to a writer of color and one to a writer over fifty years of age.

The Forge Literary Magazine (FLM) arose out of the Fiction Forge (FF) writing collective, an international group of writers who have worked closely together over many years. We want to extend that collaborative relationship to new writers—to use our combined skills to nurture some of the talent we see on a daily basis in the FLM submissions queue, thus creating a stronger link between our two writing endeavours—FLM and FF—and helping emerging writers develop their skills.

We decided upon the two initial Fellowship categories because we want to be more active agents in encouraging and facilitating diversity in the literary community. As Junot Diaz has argued, the litmag/MFA culture is just too white; rather than perpetuating a version of ‘literature’ that’s overly indebted to the white Western canon, we want to support and promote a range of voices and cultural experiences. Similarly, with regard to the over-fifty category, we wish to push back against the fetishizing of youth: we are aware, as we’re sure are our readers, that many writers (particularly female writers) do not get the opportunity to fully engage with their craft until later in life, and that the ‘Five Under Thirty-Five’ phenomenon unfairly disenfranchises writers already facing significant political disadvantage. As Joanna Walsh puts it, age is a feminist issue.

The winners of the Forge Fellowship will be integrated into our online writing community, the Fiction Forge, to work on their own writing and to read and edit for the Forge Literary Magazine. At the end of the Fellowship (a period of 12 months), the fellows will have completed at least two publishable prose pieces (workshopped in the Fiction Forge) and selected one piece for publication from the submissions queue at FLM. Their own work will also be considered for publication at FLM. Throughout the Fellowship, the Fellows will receive community support and guidance on FLM editorial matters from members of the Fiction Forge. The fellows will each receive an honorarium of $500.00, half of which is payable upon announcement of winners, and half upon completion of fellowship. Overseas writers must be able to receive payment via Paypal.

Writers are eligible who:

• do not have a book-length work published or under contract to publish one;
• are 18 years or older;
• are not friends or family of Fiction Forge members;
• are POC or over 50 years of age (must be at least 49 years-old in 2017);
• have not published with the Forge Literary Magazine;
• are able and willing to commit enough time (several hours a week) both to work on their own writing and work as a staff member of FLM.

 

Application Process

Upload your fiction or nonfiction in a single document. The manuscript should be double-spaced and in a readable, standard font, such as Times New Roman. Please submit previously unpublished piece(s) totalling up to 3,000 words. (You may submit up to three flash pieces if each is less than 1,000 words in a single file.) Please make sure your name doesn’t appear anywhere in the manuscript itself. The manuscript does not need to be publishable as-is, as fellows will have an opportunity to polish their pieces in Fiction Forge workshops, with the goal of eventual publication.

There is no application fee, but a $5 donation is appreciated if it’s comfortably affordable. Please note that no priority will be given to applications that submit with a donation. The Forge Literary Magazine is a project of Forge Literary Press, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (tax ID # 82-0910097). All donations are tax deductible and will go toward funding future Fellowships.

Application period for the 2018 Fellowship is October 15 through November 30, 2017. The members of the Fiction Forge will select the winners at their sole discretion. Winners will be announced in late January, 2018. Please submit via our Submittable page during that period.

We accept and encourage simultaneous submissions, but please withdraw promptly via Submittable if your piece is accepted elsewhere.

If you have any questions, please enquire at fellowship@forgelitmag.com.

Thank you for your interest. We look forward to reading your submission!

The Editors @ FLM