The Virginia G. Piper
Fellowship in Literary Arts
The Fellowship in the Literary Arts provides a summer stipend of up to $5,000 (depending on proposed budget) to support 1st and 2nd year ASU MFA students in completing a literary arts based project. This award is intended to provide financial support for a student writer engaged in work that will aid the completion of their creative manuscript or other project that will aid in the advancement of their literary artistic goals. Travel is not required and cannot be covered by ASU at this time due to COVID-19. Expenses that can be covered may include any and all things needed to aid in the pursuit of the project’s completion. Examples of past expenses include, but are not limited to: technology needs such as computers or cameras, book printing and/or design, facility costs, housing, childcare, personal expenses, and research expenses.
The Fellowship in the Literary Arts provides a summer stipend of up to $5,000 (depending on proposed budget) to support 1st and 2nd year ASU MFA students in completing a literary arts based project. This award is intended to provide financial support for a student writer engaged in work that will aid the completion of their creative manuscript or other project that will aid in the advancement of their literary artistic goals. Expenses that can be covered may include any and all things needed to aid in the pursuit of the project’s completion. Examples of past expenses include, but are not limited to: technology needs such as computers or cameras, book printing and/or design, facility costs, personal expenses, and research expenses.
The Virginia G. Piper Fellowship in the Literary Arts provides up to $5,000 in research support. Amount awarded is based on proposed budget outlined in the applicant’s Fellowship Proposal, and on project merit as determined by the application judges. The Fellowship award covers proposed fellowship expenses; any costs that exceed the fellowship amount will be at the student’s expense.
To be eligible for the Virginia G. Piper Fellowship in the Literary Arts, applicants must be graduate students currently enrolled in ASU's MFA Creative Writing program in their first or second year of the program at time of application.
Applicants must also be in good academic standing and on track to finish their MFA degrees. Students are ineligible to receive the same fellowship two years in a row.
A student can apply for but cannot receive both a Virginia G. Piper Fellowship for Cultural Exchange in the Literary Arts and a Virginia G. Piper Fellowship in the Literary Arts in the same year. If a candidate is highly ranked for both fellowships, they will be given the opportunity to choose between the two awards.
During your Fellowship period, you will be responsible for taking 3 photographs. Within 30 days of the end of the summer, you will need to submit these photos to the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. Along with the items please include a statement of impact about your research and experience or a sample of your completed writing. A Piper Center Staff member may also complete an interview with you about your work. These items will be shared with the Piper Trust who funds the Fellowship and may be published online with the Piper Center.
As a fellowship recipient, you will also have the opportunity to teach a 2-hour free Piper Writers Studio course at some point in the next school year, working with the Piper Center’sCoordinator for Educational Programs. This course will be community-focused, and should reference or incorporate aspects of your fellowship time and studies. The Piper Center staff will provide support in helping you develop this course, as needed. This is a great opportunity to share some of what you’ve learned with the community! If you have other ideas on how you might share your project with our community, feel free to talk to the Coordinator for Educational Programs.
All submissions and references are due by March 5th, 2023.
Files should be titled “LastName Research Fellowship Descriptor” (ex: Smith Research Fellowship Budget.pdf).
To apply for the Virginia G. Piper Creative Research Fellowship, please prepare and complete the following material:
1. Project Title
2. Abstract (200-300 words) and Fellowship Proposal/Vision and Impact Statement (no more than 2 pages, single spaced)
This should be a brief summary of your manuscript project, and the work or research you are planning for it during the fellowship period.
3. Personal Statement (1 page, single-spaced)
This should be a short, introductory essay, introducing yourself as a writer and the scope of your current project.
4. Budget
A detailed outline of all costs you are seeking support for through this fellowship, with justification statements and other documentation provided for clarity as needed. Include backup documentation for expense items to show costs. For example, if seeking funding to support registration, attach a PDF of the website page demonstrating the registration rates.
5. Project Timeline
6. Writing sample (10 pages of poetry or 10 double-spaced pages of fiction)
7. Complete the Creative Research Fellowship Application here: Fellowship in Literary Arts
Treat this process as a creative project proposal, and not a job application: you must convince the judges that your unique proposal deserves the fellowship award, rather than trying to meet a certain set of expected criteria.
If necessary, independent judges, external to ASU, will determine the recipient. The fellowship award will be announced in February 2022 and the award will be dispersed in Spring 2022.
More Info:
For more information about the Virginia G. Piper Fellowship in Literary Arts, please reach out Coordinator for Educational Programs, Joy Young, at joyyoung@asu.edu