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
- A complete draft of your novel. Though the draft need not be polished, applicants should keep in mind that it will be competing with other submissions to the program. In particular, readers are looking for a unique and nuanced writing style, a good story, and writing material that promises breadth and substance. We accept novel drafts up to 450 pages only (12-point font and 1-inch margins).
- A synopsis of 350 words or less that reveals the full arc of the book.
- A brief personal statement about what you hope to gain from this course of study and what your experience has been in previous workshops and/or consultations and writing groups. This personal statement should 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 typically notified of their application status by early/mid April.
- Please note that the upcoming round of the Novel Incubator will take place in-person in Boston at GrubStreet's Center for Creative Writing in the Seaport. Occasionally, classes may be held on Zoom if it becomes unsafe to hold in-person meetings due to COVID-19. You can see GrubStreet's latest in-person meeting status here.
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 Novel 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!