Apply for Creative Nonfiction Grant

In recent decades many extraordinary writers have contributed crucial works extending the form. Since this grant was established in 2016, the Foundation is proud to have supported dozens of books that have joined their ranks: Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House, George Packer’s Our Man, Kristen Radtke’s Seek You, Andrea Elliot’s Invisible Child, Meghan O’Rourke’s The Invisible Kingdom, Chloé Cooper Jones’s Easy Beauty, Rachel Aviv’s Strangers to Ourselves, Ilyon Woo’s Master Slave Husband Wife, and Patricia Evangelista’s Some People Need Killing, to name just a few examples.

Such projects require a wealth of time and resources. The path to a groundbreaking book is long and intensive, and the research process is unpredictable—even a generous advance from a supportive publisher may run out just as a writer unearths an essential piece of the story they are trying to tell, something transformative that leads to new questions.

Recognizing this challenge to the creation of such exemplary works of literature, the Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant’s chief objective is to foster original, ambitious projects brought to the highest possible standard. Knowing that writers of color often face additional structural hurdles to securing institutional resources to support such projects, they particularly encourage applications from them.

The 2024 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant of $40,000 will be awarded to as many as ten writers in the process of completing a book-length work of deeply researched and imaginatively composed nonfiction for a general adult readership. It is intended for multiyear book projects requiring large amounts of deep and focused research, thinking, and writing at a crucial point mid-process, after significant work has been accomplished but when an extra infusion of support can make a difference in the ultimate shape and quality of the work.

Eligibility Criteria

• Whiting welcomes applications for works of history, cultural or political reportage, biography, memoir, science, philosophy, criticism, food or travel writing, graphic nonfiction, and personal essays, among other categories. Again, the work should be intended for a general, not academic, adult reader. Self-help titles, historical fiction, textbooks, books primarily for a scholarly audience, and books for young readers are not eligible.
• Projects must be under contract with a publisher in Canada, the UK, or the US by April 23 to be eligible.
• Contracts with self-publishing companies are not eligible.

For more information, visit Whiting Foundation.