Review the guidelines below to make sure your application is the best it can be. If you’re not sure whether you’re ready or have applied in the past and were not accepted, please apply. Each application/submission is a seed planted for future success.
Submission Requirements/Guidelines
- Writing sample (50-300 pages). This excerpt from your memoir should be a polished and thoughtfully-constructed draft that shows a deep engagement with the material and a sense of commitment to its subject matter. However, we do not expect that this sample is the "final form" of any aspect of the project. The sample should be contiguous pages of your strongest writing from your memoir. (If you are writing a fractured memoir, we understand that the order of the fragments may not indicate final form).
- Project description (300 words or fewer). Please tell us how your memoir unfolds beyond the submitted manuscript pages.
- Personal statement (300 words or fewer). Please tell us what you hope to gain from this course of study and what you hope will be different (or the same) from the way you have studied writing until now, whether that's been in workshops, writing groups, or in a more self-directed way. Include your best estimate of how many hours you will be able to devote to class work each week, not including classroom time and your own writing.
- Reference: Contact information (name, email, phone, and how they know you) by a GrubStreet instructor or equivalent workshop leader. No letter is necessary. There is a place on the application form to list your reference and their contact info.
- Experience in at least one writing workshop. This can include conferences and residencies in-person and online (i.e. Bread Loaf, Sewanee, Muse and the Marketplace, Extension Schools/Community Colleges, and community arts organizations, and others). Experience in GrubStreet workshops is not required, but previous writing workshop experience in some form is highly recommended. There is a place on the application form to list the titles & dates of previous workshops.
- There is a section at the end of the application where you will have the option to apply for a GrubStreet Fellowship/scholarship.
- There is no application fee.
- For your convenience/preparation, here is a printable/downloadable link to the application questions. It’s subject to change, but this should give you an idea of the process before you go into the official application form linked below.
- Applicants are reviewed on a rolling basis, so early submission is encouraged. Your application will always be carefully reviewed whenever you apply. Applicants are typically notified of their application status by early/mid April.
- Please note that the upcoming round of the Memoir Incubator will take place online via Zoom.
Once you are ready to apply, click the button below:
Applications typically open by mid-November and are due by early February. If the link is not active, it means the applications are closed. Key dates can be found on the Memoir Incubator main webpage.
Total Tuition: $8,955
- Scholarships: Available in the amount of 25% to 75% off the total tuition cost. The optional and brief application is attached at the end of the standard program application for your convenience.
- First tuition payment due: upon acceptance of your spot (typically by May 1)
- Final tuition payment due: approximately 2 months after the first day of class. Payment plans of up to 4 installments can be arranged with GrubStreet’s Finance team with the goal of all payments completed by the final tuition payment due date.
- Donation information: We continuously fundraise for our scholarship fund to make all our programs more accessible to more writers. While our programs are significantly less costly than the average MFA program, we recognize that full tuition is still out of reach for many. Any individual interested in making a one-time or sustaining donation toward scholarships specific to this program or all programs can do so on our donation page or reaching out to Julian Iralu at [email protected]. Thanks!