Application and Acceptance

Application

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

• Application deadline is February 15.
• There is a $20 application fee.
• Notification letters are sent by email 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.

Contributor Applicants

Contributors are strong writers with a range of experience who are in the early stages of their literary careers or ongoing learners of the literary arts. Though some may have a literary background and/or MFA, some may not, and many at this level will not have started publishing yet in magazines and periodicals. Writers who are further along in their literary careers can choose to apply as paying contributors to participate at the contributor level.

The fee for contributor applicants is $3,985. This includes tuition ($2,620) and room and board ($1,365).

Contributors 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more information about the Blue Parlor reading series will be provided, as well as details on how to submit an unpublished manuscript for workshop critique.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.

• Contributor in Nonfiction Application
• Contributor in Poetry Application
• Contributor in Fiction Application

Financial Aid

Thanks to the generosity of Middlebury College and also many donors and former Bread Loafers who have contributed over the past ninety-eight years, Bread Loaf is pleased to be able to offer substantial financial aid that is distributed to writers at different levels of experience and publication. Financial aid is awarded in recognition of published work or literary promise; financial need has no bearing on our decisions, except as noted. Awards must be used in the year they are granted.

Those applying for financial aid can choose more than one category. If you would like to be considered for a spot as a contributor should you not receive a financial aid award, you must submit a contributor application in addition to the financial aid application.

• Financial aid applications must be submitted by February 15.
• Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early.
• Notification letters will be sent by email in late May. 

Levels of Aid

• Learn more about the levels in which writers may apply and to find out which level(s) is most suitable for you.
• An applicant may receive an award only once in a given genre and specific financial aid category.

Acceptance

Acceptance is based on the strength and promise of the writing sample and our 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 careers. For the 2022 conference, we accepted 21% of paying contributor applicants, and 5% of those who applied for financial aid received an award, scholarship, or fellowship.

Notification letters are sent by email in late May. Writers who apply in multiple categories receive a separate notification letter for each category of application. At the time of acceptance into the conference a confirmation form is required in order to reserve the place, and participants 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.