Admissions Overview

You may apply to the Conference by submitting a sample of original work and an application form. All applicants submit an application and their supporting materials online, except for fellowship candidates who complete an online application as well as mail a copy of their book(s) to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference office.

There are several ways to apply to the Conference. You will see an overall list below. Those applying for financial aid must choose one type. If you would like to be considered for a spot as a general contributor should financial aid not work out, you must submit an application in each category.

Acceptance is based on the strength and promise of the writing sample and the admission board's judgment that the applicant will benefit from the Conference. The workshops are designed to accommodate both published writers and those in the early stages of promising careers. For the 2011 Conference, we were able to accept 27 percent of general applicants; 6 percent of those who applied for financial aid received an award.

We cannot enroll anyone for less than the full ten days of the Conference. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age.

There is no application fee.

General Contributor & Auditor Applicants

General contributor applications are accepted online and must be submitted by March 1. Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early. Notification letters will be sent by e-mail in late May.

General contributor applicants are writers whose work shows promise and potential. Publication is not a requirement, and while some have a writing degree, such as an MFA, many do not. The quality of the unpublished manuscript is of paramount importance to the admissions board.

The fee for general contributor applicants is $2,725 (tuition, $1,790; room and board, $935).

Along with the online application, general contributor applicants submit a manuscript of unpublished work in the genre in which they are applying. (See the Applications and Manuscript Guidelines Web pages for more information.)

Auditors attend the Conference without a manuscript. Auditors should fill out the regular online application and submit up to 300 words when answering the application question "What do
you hope to gain from attending the Conference?" (See the Applications Web page for more information and a link to the online application.)

Auditors are assigned to a workshop and, with the exception of manuscript critiques, they participate in all aspects of the Conference. See deadline for general applicants.

The fee for auditors is $2,610 (tuition, $1,675; room and board, $935).

Financial Aid Applicants

Fellowships are included in this category.

Financial aid applications must be submitted by March 1. Please note that this is a firm deadline; applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early. Notification letters will be sent by e-mail in late May.

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 financial aid in three categories: fellowships, tuition scholarships, and work-study scholarships.

Financial aid is awarded in recognition of published work or literary promise; financial need has no bearing on our decisions. Awards must be used in the year they are granted.

An applicant may receive an award only once in a given genre and specific financial aid category.

Fellowships are awarded to applicants who have published their first or second book in English within the last four years in the genre in which they are applying.  At Bread Loaf, fellows are assigned to a workshop where they generally are asked to assist the faculty member. Fellows give a public reading from their own work and are invited to submit a proposal for a one-hour class on some aspect of the craft of writing.(Proposals for craft classes are solicited after the fellowships are awarded.)

Fellowships cover tuition, room, and board at the Conference ($2,725).

Fellowship applications are accepted online and must be submitted by March 1, and supporting materials must be sent by regular mail by March 1 (postmark). If you have published two books, send your most recent title. Poets send one copy of their book, and prose writers send two copies. Mail the book(s) to: Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, 14 Old Chapel Road, 5525 Middlebury College, Middlebury VT, 05753.

Galleys or proofs are acceptable, but your book must be in print by the time of the Conference. Because 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 co-author or editor, academic work, children's or young adult literature, or "how to" books.

See the Applications page of this Web site for more details.

The Fairbanks award supports a writer living in Africa or the Caribbean to attend the Conference. 

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

The application deadline for this particular award 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 on requirements, see the general sections on fellowships and tuition scholarships noted on this page.

Tuition scholarships are awarded to writers who are actively publishing original work in distinguished magazines and literary periodicals, such as the Atlantic, Callaloo, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Poetry, 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 $1,790 and recipients pay $935. 

Tuition scholarship applications are accepted online and must be submitted by March 1. To apply for a tuition scholarship, fill out the online application including an attachment that contains the following supporting materials: (1) a detailed list of publications (noting the title, publication, and publication date for each piece); (2) a sample of work published within the last three years (send scans of the work as it appeared in the publication)—prose writers should send one published piece, and poets up to ten published pages; and (3) because tuition scholars are contributors in workshops, please also include a manuscript of unpublished work in the genre in which you are applying. (See the Manuscript Guidelines Web page--you'll see a link to it on the left of the Application page.) You will be able to upload only one document to your online application.  Before starting the process, please be sure all of the supporting materials are contained in one PDF document that follows the numerical order noted above.  The correct order is very important.

All applications must be submitted by March 1. See the Application page of this Web site for more details.

Work-Study Scholarships

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 and receive payment for their part-time duties. Food preparation is not involved, and previous waiter experience is not required. Nevertheless the work is physically quite demanding, and it requires that candidates 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.

Work-study scholarships cover approximately $2,000. The balance in Conference fees will be mostly offset by the recipient's salary.

Work-study scholarship applications are accepted online. See the Application page of this Web site. All applications must be submitted online by March 1. Along with the online application, work-study scholarship candidates must submit a manuscript of unpublished work in the genre in which they are applying. See the Manuscript Guidelines Web page.

Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarships

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 ($2,725).

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 book (a standard trade edition of their work) are not eligible for these scholarships.

Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholarships are accepted online. See the Application page of this Web site. All applications must be submitted online by March 1.

The online application includes a section where applicants for this particular scholarship write a short statement of 300 to 500 words addressing the scholarship criteria noted above. Along with filling out the online application, scholarship applicants submit a manuscript of unpublished work in the genre in which they are applying. See the Manuscript Guidelines Web page.

Donald Everett Axinn and Carol Houck Smith contributor scholarships

The contributor scholarships are awarded to a Bread Loaf Writers' Conference general contributor who wishes to return to Bread Loaf in a consecutive year.

The Donald Everett Axinn Contributor Scholarship supports tuition at the Conference ($1,790). Two scholarships will be given annually, one in fiction and one in poetry.

The Carol Houck Smith Contributor Scholarship supports room, board, and tuition ($2,725). One scholarship will be given annually, in either fiction, poetry, or nonfiction.

General contributors are participants who have previously attended Bread Loaf without the support of conference financial aid.

General contributors who attended the Conference in 2011 are eligible to apply for the scholarships only in 2012. The application deadline is March 1. Please contact the Bread Loaf office for application guidelines.

Middlebury College Student Scholarships

These scholarships are available for current students of Middlebury College. The scholarships are awarded based on the quality of work submitted.

Middlebury College student scholarships cover tuition, room, and board at the Conference ($2,725). 

Middlebury College Student Scholarships are accepted online. See the Application page of this Web site. Along with filling out the online application, scholarship applicants submit a manuscript of unpublished work in the genre in which they are applying. See the Manuscript Guidelines Web page.

For this particular scholarship, we also require a completed recommendation form. You will need to ask a Middlebury College creative writing instructor to complete the form and send it in. (The instructor can fill in the form or simply answer the questions in the body of an email--more details are noted on the form.)

The deadline for Middlebury College Scholarship Applications is March 19 (please note that this is later than the usual March 1 deadline).