The Emerging Voices Fellowship is a literary mentorship that aims to provide new writers who are isolated from the literary establishment with the tools, skills, and knowledge they need to launch a professional writing career.
Applications are now open for 2018 Emerging Voices Fellowships
Deadline: August 1, 2017
LITERARY MENTORSHIP BENEFITS
By the end of the Emerging Voices Fellowship, a writer will leave with:
- Seven months of guidance from a professional mentor and written notes on their current writing project.
- An author photo and bio.
- A logline—the short summation of the project in progress.
- A clear action plan for finishing this project.
- Writing life, and craft tips, from notable visiting authors.
- An editing guide from a professional copy editor.
- Insider knowledge of publishing from agents, publishers, and editors.
- An individualized submission guide for literary journals, agents, residencies, and fellowships.
- Improved reading technique from a professional voice coach.
- Public reading experience for a variety of audiences.
- An understanding of how to be an effective workshop participant.
- Lifetime membership in PEN Center USA.
- An introduction to the Los Angeles literary community.
FELLOWSHIP COMPONENTS
The seven-month fellowship includes:
PROFESSIONAL MENTORSHIP: Emerging Voices Mentors are carefully chosen from PEN Center USA’s membership and from professional writers based in Los Angeles. The Mentor-Fellow relationship is expected to challenge the fellow’s work and compel significant creative progress. Over the course of the fellowship, Emerging Voices Fellows and Mentors should meet three times in person, and be in contact at least once a month. In these three meetings, Mentors will offer written feedback on the Emerging Voices Fellows’ work in progress. Authors who have been mentors in the past include Ron Carlson, Harryette Mullen, Chris Abani, Ramona Ausubel, Meghan Daum, and Sherman Alexie.
CLASSES AT THE UCLA EXTENSION WRITERS’ PROGRAM: Participants will attend two free courses (a 12-week writing course and a one-day workshop) at UCLA Extension, donated by the Writers’ Program. Program Manager will assist the Emerging Voices Fellows with course selection.
AUTHOR EVENINGS: Every Monday, fellows will meet with a visiting author, editor or publisher and ask questions about craft. Fellows must read each visiting author’s book before the evening. A schedule of Author Evenings is distributed at the first Emerging Voices orientation meeting. The 2016 Private Author Evening Series included (in order of appearance):
| Samantha Dunn Douglas Kearney Dinah Lenney Heather Simons Wendy C. Ortiz |
Justin Torres James Ragan Betsy Amster Victoria Chang Derrick C. Brown |
David Francis Janice Lee (Entropy) Darcy Cosper (The Offing) Bonnie Nadell J. Ryan Stradal |
Bernard Cooper Harryette Mullen Julia Callahan (Rare Bird Lit) Chris Heiser (Unnamed Press) Dan Smetanka (Counterpoint Press) |
Click here for info for the Emerging Voices Author Evening Series, which is open to the public.
MASTER CLASSES: After completing the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program courses, Emerging Voices Fellows will enroll in a Master Class. The Master Class is a genre-specific workshop with a professional writer that affords fellows the opportunity to exchange feedback on their works in progress. The 2017 Master Class Instructors are Alex Espinoza (fiction and nonfiction), and F. Douglas Brown (poetry).
VOLUNTEER PROJECT: All Emerging Voices Fellows are expected to complete a 25-hour volunteer project that is relevant to the literary community. The 2016 Fellows collaborated on projects with 826LA, Reading Opens Minds, A Place Called Home, and POPS the Club.
VOICE INSTRUCTION CLASS: The Fellowship will provide a one-day workshop with Dave Thomas, a professional voice actor. The Emerging Voices Fellows will read their work in a recording studio and receive instruction on reading their work publicly.
PUBLIC READINGS: Fellows will participate in three public readings, The Welcome Party, Tongue & Groove Salon, and the Final Reading. Fellows have read in various venues and events including the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Silver Lake Jubilee, Skylight Bookstore, The Standard, Downtown LA, and Hotel Café. The fellowship culminates in a Final Reading showcasing the progress each fellow has made in his or her work.
STIPEND: The fellowship includes a $1,000 stipend, given in $500 increments.
The Emerging Voices Fellowship runs from January to July. Participants need not be published, but the fellowship is directed toward poets and writers of fiction and creative nonfiction with clear ideas of what they hope to accomplish through their writing.
The application period for 2018 will open May 1, 2017.