Financial Aid Applicants

Fellowships are included in this category

Those applying for financial aid should fill out both the regular application and the financial aid application.  These two applications and any supporting materials must be postmarked by March 1.  Please note that this is a firm deadline; applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early.  Notification letters will be mailed on May 25.

Thanks to the generous support of Middlebury College and to an endowment fund established by past Bread Loafers and other donors, we are able to offer three types of financial aid: fellowships, tuition scholarships, and work-study scholarships.

In addition, the Conference is pleased to note two special awards:   The Michael and Marylee Fairbanks International Fellowship, for writers from Africa or the Caribbean; and The Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarships, for women at the start of their writing careers.

We award financial aid in recognition of published work or literary promise; financial need has no bearing on our decisions. (Criteria for the Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarships are different; please see those details noted below.) The awards must be used in the year they are granted. An applicant may receive a specific type of award only once in a given genre. (For example, a work-study award winner could only apply for a work-study scholarship again if he/she is applying in a different genre, but that person could apply for a tuition scholarship in the same genre.)

To be considered for a fellowship, applicants should have published one book (and not more than two) within the last four years, in the genre in which they are applying. At Bread Loaf, each fellow gives a reading from his or her own work and may also offer a one-hour class on some aspect of craft. (Proposals for these classes are solicited from fellows after they are admitted.) Each fellow is assigned to a workshop and may be asked to assist the faculty member.

Fellowships cover tuition, room, and board at the Conference.

With your application for a fellowship, please include a copy of your book (your most recent one, if you have published two). Galleys or proofs are acceptable, but your book must be in print by the time of the Conference. Since fellows' work is not critiqued in workshops or by faculty, there is no need to submit a manuscript in progress.

Please do not send chapbooks, self-published books, books for which you have served as coauthor or editor, academic work, children's or young adult literature, or "how to" books.

The Fairbanks Fellowship supports a writer living in Africa or the Caribbean to attend the Conference.  To be considered, applicants should have published one book (and not more than two) written in English within the last four years, in the genre in which they are applying.

The Fairbanks International Fellowship covers tuition, room, and board at the Conference; in addition, this special fellowship covers travel expenses.

The postmark deadline for the Fairbanks International Fellowship is April 2 (please note that this deadline is later than the usual Bread Loaf deadline for financial aid, which is March 1). 

For more details, see the general section on fellowships above.

Tuition scholarships are awarded to writers who are actively publishing original work in distinguished magazines and literary periodicals, such as Poetry, Callaloo, Atlantic Monthly, New England Review, Kenyon Review, and Threepenny Review, or who have received recognition such as the "Discovery"/The Nation Award or a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Tuition scholars should not have published a book in the genre in which they are applying.

Tuition scholarships cover tuition at the Conference and recipients pay for room and board.

With your application for a tuition scholarship, please include the following: a detailed list of publications (noting the title, publication, and publication date for each piece); a sample of work published within the last three years—prose writers should send one published piece, and poets up to ten published pages; and since tuition scholars are contributors in workshops, please also include unpublished work according to the guidelines for submitting manuscripts.

Work-study scholarships are awarded to applicants whose writing shows exceptional promise.

At Bread Loaf, while taking part in the Conference, recipients work as waiters in the dining room. Food preparation is not involved, and previous experience is not required. The work is physically quite demanding, however, so candidates should be in very good physical condition. Scholarship recipients who have physical disabilities which preclude them from working as waiters will be assigned to alternative work positions.

In addition to having their tuition, room, and board covered, work-study scholars receive payment for their part-time duties. To secure a place, a deposit of $200 is required of work-study scholars at the time of acceptance. This deposit is returned at the end of the Conference.

Along with your application, send a manuscript of unpublished work in the genre in which you are applying. (See guidelines for submitting a manuscript.)

The Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarships are awarded to women whose writing shows exceptional promise.

Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarships cover tuition, room, and board at the Conference.

While literary merit is the main consideration, the Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarships are especially intended to support women who also meet one or more of the following criteria: a first-time Bread Loaf participant; an applicant with a nontraditional literary background, who is working outside of academia with or without a writing degree; or an individual who is in particular need of financial and creative support. Candidates must be permanent residents of the United States, and writers who have published a standard trade edition of their work are not eligible for these scholarships. 

With your application for a Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarship, send a manuscript of unpublished work in the genre in which you are applying (see guidelines for submitting a manuscript) as well as a short statement of 300 to 500 words addressing the scholarship criteria noted above.