Grants for Professional Writers: Creative Writing
Deadlines
- English-Language Grants: 1 October
- French-Language Grants: 1 April
Program Description
The Grants for Professional Writers program covers subsistence, project and travel expenses. The Creative Writing Grants component gives Canadian authors (emerging, mid-career and established) time to write new literary works, including novels, short stories, poetry, children’s literature, graphic novels and literary non-fiction.
Note that you should submit literature creation projects based on the spoken word to the Spoken Word and Storytelling Program of the Writing and Publishing Section.
Playwrights who require funding to write a play should contact the Theatre Section. Screenwriters who require funding to write a screenplay should contact the Media Arts Section.
Eligibility
General Criteria
Applicants must be Canadian citizens or have Permanent Resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. They must be recognized professional writers who have had:
- at least one literary book published by a professional publishing house, or
- for fiction, a minimum of four texts of creative literary writing (e.g. short stories, excerpts from a novel) published on two separate occasions in literary magazines, recognized periodicals (including general interest magazines), or anthologies published by professional publishing houses, or
- for poetry, a minimum of 10 published poems is required, or
- for literary non-fiction, a minimum of 40 pages (10,000 words) of literary articles published in literary magazines, recognized periodicals or anthologies published by professional publishing houses.
(For eligibility of publishers, please see the Canada Council for the Arts Publisher Eligibility criteria in its Book Publishing Support: Emerging Publisher Grants/Block Grants program on the Canada Council website.)
Only literary publications that publish professional writers and are available to the general public are considered eligible. The author must receive compensation and have gone through an independent editorial selection process.
Web publications, co-authored publications and privately printed publications, as well as writing published in community newspapers, student magazines, or newsletters of associations or other organizations are not eligible for this program.
The Canada Council for the Arts accepts writing projects in all languages. (If you submit a writing project in a language other than English or French, you must submit the original text along with a translated version in one of the official languages.)
Collaborative projects are accepted in this program, and writers may collaborate with a maximum of two other professional artists from disciplines other than writing. One single artist makes the application.
Full-time students are not eligible to apply.
Applicants may apply for one Grant to Professional Artists program (or to one deadline of that program for creation) per fiscal year (between 1 April and 31 March). Individual artists may receive up to two Grants to Professional Artists from the Canada Council in any 48-month period. Artists may also submit one request for a Travel Grant per year.
Applicants must have submitted a final report on their use of any previous Canada Council grant to be eligible to apply to this program.
Only established professional artists who work in more than one discipline, and meet the eligibility criteria as established artists in both disciplines, may apply to two different Grants to Professional Artists programs per fiscal year. The artist must, however, accept or refuse the first grant offered by the Canada Council within two weeks of the date of the grant notification. If the first grant offered is accepted, the artist’s other application will be withdrawn from any subsequent competition in that fiscal year.
All Canada Council programs are accessible to Aboriginal artists or arts organizations and artists or arts organizations of diverse cultural and regional communities of Canada.
Ineligible Activities, Expenses and Past Publications
- Upgrading in arts administration, academic work or work towards a graduate degree.
- Promotion tours or book launches in Canada (eligible publishers can receive support for these activities from the publishing support programs of the Canada Council).
- Publication, translation or promotion of books or periodicals.
- Purchase or rental of computer equipment.
- Cookbooks, bibliographies, guides, manuals, indexes, catalogues, books on personal growth or practical works, reference or technical works.
- Commissioned works or works for which the author does not receive compensation for the use of his or her intellectual property (including self-published books).
- Electronic publications.
Grant Amount
Applicants determine the amount of the grant, taking into consideration their needs, the period covered and the maximum allowable. Applicants must round their total budget request to the nearest thousand.
Applicants must intend to work on a new literary writing project, normally planned for book-length publication, unless they are applying for a grant of $5,000 or less (for feature articles).
Grants are not retroactive.
Emerging Writers
Grants for emerging writers are intended for writers who have published one literary book with a professional publishing house or a minimum of four literary texts in literary magazines or recognized periodicals. The grant amounts offered are from $3,000 to $10,000.
Mid-Career Writers
Mid-career writers must have published between two and five literary books (all genres included) with a professional publishing house. The grant amounts offered are from $3,000 to $20,000.
Established Writers
Established writers must have published at least six literary books (all genres included) with a professional publishing house. The grant amounts offered are from $3,000 to $20,000.
Subsistence Costs
Typically, Creative Writing Grants are used to offset subsistence costs (to a maximum of $2,000 per month) to allow writers to concentrate on their writing.
Travel and Other Expenses
Travel in connection with research for a writing project is eligible, as well as the cost of books, photocopies, and other expenses related specifically to the project. The purchase or rental of computer equipment is not eligible.
Application Form
Grants for Professional Writers: Creative Writing (pdf, 354KB)
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.
Further Information
Writing and Publishing Section
Canada Council for the Arts
350 Albert Street, P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa ON K1P 5V8
Telephone: 1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or (613) 566-4414, and enter the appropriate extension number
Creative Writing Grants (English-language writers)
Paul Seesequasis, ext. 5482 or Peter Schneider, ext. 5537
TTY (TDD) machine, for hearing-impaired callers: (613) 565-5194
Fax: (613) 566-4410
February 2006