Application and Acceptance

How to Apply

You can apply to the conference by submitting an application online.

• Application deadline is February 1.
• Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early.
• There is a $25 application fee; an application fee waiver may be available.
• Notification letters are sent via Submittable in late May.

We use Submittable, the online application program. Applicants who already have a Submittable account will be asked to login. Others will be prompted to set up a free account.

For financial assistance with the application fee, please contact Bread Loaf staff at Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences.

Participant Applications

Participant applicants are writers with a range of experience who are in the early stages of their literary careers or ongoing learners of the literary arts interested in feedback on work-in-progress. Our admissions board seeks emerging writers whose work shows talent and literary promise as well as those who already have an established literary background including publications in magazines and periodicals and/or an MFA or additional literary or academic training. 

The fee to be a  Participant  is $4,250. This includes tuition ($2,795) and room and board ($1,455).

Participants receive guidance on their work during the workshops and are invited to read during the Blue Parlor reading series. Upon acceptance, more information about the Blue Parlor reading series will be provided, as well as details on how to submit an unpublished manuscript for workshop critique. The Manuscript Guidelines are similar to those followed during the application process.

• Participant in Nonfiction Application
• Participant in Poetry Application
• Participant in Fiction Application

Financial Aid Applications

Thanks to the generosity of Middlebury College and also many donors and former Bread Loafers who have contributed over the past one hundred years, Bread Loaf is pleased to be able to offer substantial financial aid  for both published and unpublished writers. Financial aid is merit based; financial need has no bearing on decisions, except as noted. Financial aid must be used in the year it is granted.

Writers who would like to be considered for a spot as a Participant should they not receive financial aid must submit a separate Participant application in addition to the financial aid application. Writers who work in more than one genre can submit an application in each genre, if they wish to.

A writer may receive financial aid only once in a particular genre, with the exception of the Bread Loaf Returning Participant Scholarship and the Bread Loaf Returning Fellowship. 

Read more about Financial Aid.

Acceptance

Acceptance is based on the strength and promise of the writing sample and the admission board’s judgment that the applicant will benefit from attending the conference. The workshops are designed to accommodate both published writers and those in the early stages of careers. For the 2024 conference, we accepted 16% of paying participant applicants and 4% of those who applied for financial aid. 

Notification letters are sent via Submittable in late May. Writers who submit more than one application will receive a notification letter for each application submitted. At the time of acceptance, a confirmation form is required in order to reserve one’s place, and Participants must submit their top choices for workshop leader at that time.

• We do not enroll anyone for less than the full ten days of the conference.
• Applicants must be at least eighteen years of age.