General Information | Submission Guidelines | Eligibility | Submit Now
2022 Mentors | 2022 Fellows
- Applicants must be at least 21 years of age as of the application deadline.
- Applicant must currently reside in the U.S. or a U.S. Territory and meet one of the below criteria on the date of the application deadline, in any given year, is eligible to apply:
- U.S. Citizen
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) status, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Legal Permanent Status (LPS), or any subsequent categories designated by the U.S. authorities as conferring similar enhanced status upon non-citizens living in the United States legally able to work in U.S.
- Please note: By law Miami Book Fair must report cash prizes awarded to individuals to the Internal Revenue Service. If individuals have a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), the individual will receive a 1099.
- Stipend for winner(s) will be subject to the completion of IRS Form W-9, including a valid ITIN or SSN.
- Applicant must not be currently enrolled as a degree-seeking student by the time the fellowship begins.
- Applicant must not have published in any genre a book-length work, have a book under contract, or be negotiating a contract either in the United States or abroad by the time the fellowship begins. Contracts received while in residence are fine and do not affect an individual’s fellowship status. You may be asked to disclose any submissions still pending at time of acceptance and/or the start of the fellowship.
- It is fine to have published excerpts in magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks, but the manuscript in its entirety must not have been previously published (including self-publications and e-books). If applicable, include with your manuscript an acknowledgments page for all prior publications.
- Previously awarded fellows may not apply.
- Applicant must submit a proposal for a book-length manuscript-in-progress in English that can feasibly be completed within the year-long fellowship program. Proposals must be for a manuscript-in-progress of original work in English by a single author. There are no restrictions on style or subject matter. Translations are not eligible.
- Must be able to travel to and live in Miami, Florida for the duration of the 12-month fellowship, excluding necessary travel.
- Because the goal of this program is to provide Fellows with uninterrupted time and space to complete their manuscripts, applicants should not plan to hold full-time employment during the fellowship year.
- Close friends, relatives, students, and former students of the mentors are excluded from the contest. Likewise, the current Miami Dade College and Miami Book Fair advisory board members, staff, and teaching artists are excluded, as are members of their immediate families. If any of the selected applicants fall under these categories they will be disqualified, and a replacement will be chosen from among the finalists. Acquaintance and participation in a workshop taught by the mentor should not be a disqualifying factor, so long as the manuscript sample is not recognizable to the mentor. Anyone wondering if they might be a “close friend” of the above mentioned probably is.
- Miami Book Fair does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, height, weight, physical or mental ability, veteran status, military obligations, and marital status.
The Miami Book Fair Emerging Writer Fellowships program is supported by The Jorge M. Peréz Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation, the Green Family Foundation, Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Florida Department of State Division of Arts and Culture.
