“miss Sarah” Fellowship for Black women Writers:

Guidelines and application

Montford Manor near downtown Asheville, NC

Guidelines:

Purpose: The “Miss Sarah” Fellowship for Black Women Writers aims to provide Black women writers a restful environment conducive to reflection and writing. It also offers uninterrupted, independent time to plant the seed of an idea for a new writing project or to develop or complete a project underway. This is an annual award and the application cycle opens every fall.

The 2026 Fellowship will focus on Fiction.

What the fellowship entails: The selected writer will receive a ten-day solo residency in July and can choose whether to stay at Trillium Arts’ rural “Firefly Creek” apartment in Mars Hills, NC or at E. Patrick Johnson and Stephen Lewis’ “Montford Manor” residence near downtown Asheville, NC. Participants will receive a $1,000 stipend and transportation to and from Asheville, NC. Additional benefits will be custom tailored to the needs of the awardee. We are beyond grateful to share that neither housing location was damaged by Hurricane Helene.

Dates: The preferred dates for a “Miss Sarah” Fellowship are typically July 10-20. However, the panel will consider other dates.

Who is eligible? Black women writers at any stage of their careers are invited to apply. For applicants outside of the United States, please note that travel expenses will only be covered within the United States. International airfare will be at the expense of the applicant.There is no application fee.

Timeline: The timeline will be announced early October. Applications will be reviewed by a panel and applicants will be notified by April 2026.

Requirements:

Please upload and submit all of the following documents, either as PDF or Word documents. Files should not exceed 10 MB each.

· CV or resume (not to exceed 5 pages)

· A one-page Fellowship Proposal Statement outlining the proposed project. Include information about the project context and what you plan to accomplish during the Fellowship period.

· A one-page statement that addresses the question of, “Why Trillium Arts?” Be specific in how a Fellowship at Trillium Arts will benefit your creative work.

· One letter of recommendation. The letter should be submitted separately by an outside recommender. The letter should specifically refer to your writing project. Be sure to choose someone who can speak specifically about your project, and we suggest you share your work sample with your recommender so they can be informed about your writing.

In your letter, we request that the recommender address the following four questions:

How do you know the applicant? Are you their teacher, colleague, editor, etc.
What makes the applicant's project significant?
Who do you imagine would be most served by this project?
What do you find inspiring about the applicant's project?

Provide an email address for your recommender in the online Submittable application form and your recommender will receive an automatic link to use to submit their letter on your behalf. Please remind the recommender that they need to reply to the automatic email and submit their letter by the deadline. Please plan accordingly to ensure that your recommender has enough time to submit.

· A writing sample of your proposed project. The writing sample should be of work you intend to further develop during the Fellowship. Work-in-progress is therefore highly recommended. Writing samples should be in English.

· MA and MFA theses, PhD dissertations, and edited collections are not eligible and will be disqualified. Your work sample must be original.

· Your name and the title of your written piece should appear on the top of each uploaded file.

· Please submit your writing sample in ONE PDF document. The sample should be a minimum of 10 pages not exceed 15 pages. All submitted documents should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins, and in an easily readable 12-point font.

The application PORTAL WILL OPEN in october 2025 and remain open for six weeks. A LINK TO THE APPLICATION ON SUBMITTABLE will be available at that time.

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Banner Photo by Kat Stokes