The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF), a non-profit organisation based in the United States of America, which was launched in January 2004 to promote literary quality and expand opportunities in speculative fiction for marginalised writers, is inviting working-class writers from around the world to apply for its $1,000 USD Working Class Writers Grant.
The Working Class Writers Grant has been awarded annually since 2013 to speculative fiction writers who are working class, blue-collar, financially disadvantaged, homeless, or historically underrepresented in speculative fiction due to financial barriers which make it hard for them to access the writing world. The lack of access might include an inability to purchase a computer, books, pay tuition, or attend conventions or workshops.
SLF explains that, as with all its grants, this grant is intended to help writers working with speculative literature, which it says includes literature ranging from hard science fiction to epic fantasy, including ghost stories, horror, folk and fairy tales, slipstream, magical realism, and more. It adds that any piece of literature containing a fabulist or speculative element would fall under its aegis.
Although based in America, the grant is also available to international writers for whom any of the following applies:
- qualifies for government assistance (food stamps, Medicaid, tax credits, free school lunch) for a significant period of time;
- lives paycheck-to-paycheck;
- whose parents did not go to college;
- relies on payday loans;
- currently being raised in a single-parent household;
- is supporting him/herself and paying his/her own way through college;
- has lived at or below 200% of the poverty line for his/her state for at least one year; or
- has experienced stretches of time when food was not readily and easily available.
The required materials for the application include a cover letter containing a personal statement (maximum 750 words) explaining why the applicant qualifies and what he/she hopes to accomplish with the grant. An applicant may include a bibliography of previously published work, if applicable, and it will not count toward the requested word limit.
An applicant should also submit a writing sample of up to 10 pages of poetry, 10 pages of drama, or 5,000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction. Applicants sending a section of a novel, novella, or novelette should include a one-page synopsis as the first page of the document.
The application form for the Grant will be active only during the open submission window from September 1 (12:00 am) to September 30, 2026 (11:59 pm) UTC -4.
For detailed information about the grant, interested writers should please visit https://speculativeliterature.org/grants-3/the-slf-working-class-grant/ and complete the application here.
The Speculative Literature Foundation is partially funded by the Oak Park Area Arts Council, in partnership with the Village of Oak Park and the Illinois Arts Council; the Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation; and The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.
