Funding for Writers

Academi: What it does

The Arts Council of Wales (ACW) is responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales. In 1998 Yr Academi Gymreig won the franchise from the ACW to establish a Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency.

It is now responsible for funding events accross Wales under the Writers on Tour [link to Writers on Tour section] scheme - which includes a range of writers’ residencies, development projects, Young People’s Writing Squads - as well as offering support to those organising literary programmes of their own. To carry out this work the Academi has offices in Cardiff and fieldworkers based in north Wales and the south Wales valleys.

The Academi represents the interests of Welsh writers - poets, novelists, fictioneers, storytellers, dramatists, critics) and Welsh writing both inside Wales and beyond. It works in partnership with Ty Newydd, the Cricieth-based residential writers’ centre and with the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea. In 2005 it opened its resource centre for writers at the new Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay - Glyn Jones Centre - in memory of the late author and poet.

The Academi’s publishing programme includes the Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales, A470, a quarterly literature information magazine for the whole of Wales, Taliesin, a quarterly literary journal in the Welsh language, The Companion to the Literature of Wales ln, The Welsh Academy English-Welsh Dictionary, and a variety of translated works. With support from the Lottery, first Encyclopaedia of Wales, was published in both English and Welsh in 2008.

The Academi also administers the annual Wales Book of the Year with funding from the Arts Council of Wales.

The Academi can offer direct support to both new and established writers through its Bursaries Scheme, which enables writers working on a major project to buy time from their employment commitments or can help towards the costs of research or travel, and also seeks to develop and support emergent talent through its Mentoring and Critical Services.

The Arts Council of Wales administers the Creative Wales Awards and the Creative Wales Ambassador Awards to distinguished artists, including creative writers, working both within and outside Wales respectively.

What type of funding will you need?

What are publishing grants?

The Academi does not provide financial support or publishing grants to publishers in Wales – this is the role of the Welsh Books Council (WBC), which also provides a variety of other services to publishers in Wales, including distribution. The WBC currently offers revenue funding to the major independent book publishers in Wales – Seren, Parthian Books, Honno and Gomer – and, in addition, provides publishing and marketing grants to the three major journals of Wales: New Welsh Review, Planet and Poetry Wales.

The Welsh Books Council also provides support to a variety of publishers in Wales through its individual publishing grants scheme. Individuals cannot apply to the Welsh Books Council to help fund books, whether these are self-published creative works or specialist titles partly funded by the author. Works must be submitted directly by publishers and are considered on a title-by-title basis. Works must be of a literary nature, regardless of the genre, and must be non-commercial and therefore unlikely to make a profit: the individual publishing grant is intended to cover a publisher’s anticipated loss from publishing the title. Applications are assessed by specialists according to need, literary merit, relevance to Wales, and the furthering of Welsh literature. Further information on the work of the Welsh Books Council and the services it offers to the Welsh publishing industry can be found by visit the website.

What is the author grant? Academi Bursaries – outline of different types of grant

The Academi cannot provide support for writers seeking funding to self-publish their work and nor does it fund publishers in Wales. Supporting reputable independent publishers in Wales whose output includes both literary and commercial titles is the job of the Welsh Books Council (WBC), through its revenue funding scheme and the distribution of individual publishing grants.

But the Academi can offer vital and direct support to writers of distinction – both emergent and established – through its Bursaries scheme.

Bursaries are awarded annually to writers both new and established seeking to buy time out of their employment commitments in order to complete a work of literary fiction or non-fiction or to help to cover the costs of travel, research or childcare. Bursaries are also available for disabled writers to provide specialist equipment, support or training.

Bursaries are awarded on merit in a competitive scheme and are awarded to support writers creating new work in the following genres: novels, short stories, poetry, literary criticism and factual prose of literary merit. Writing which does not fit neatly into these categories can also be considered. Plays are not eligible under this service; those seeking support in this field are strongly advised to contact Sherman Cymru, which can offer invaluable advice and support for emergent playwrights, as well as the very latest news on funding and development opportunities. Bursaries will not be awarded to assist work on a thesis or any other piece of formal academic research. Applications may be made in more than one category.

There are 5 different bursaries available in two categories, Buying Time Bursaries and Enabling Bursaries:

Buying Time Bursaries:

1. New Writers’ Bursaries can be awarded to writers who have not previously published a volume of their work. At least 10,000 words of prose of work-in-progress or 15 poems must be submitted with your application. If you have had work published in anthologies and periodicals, please send samples with your application - one copy of each item.

Maximum award: £10,000

2. Published Writers’ Bursaries are for writers who have already published a volume or more of work. At least 4,000 words of work-in-progress OR 8 poems must be submitted with your application. Please send one copy of a sample volume with your application. These will be returned if requested.

Maximum award: £10,000

3. Children’s Writers’ Bursary are intended for writers for children and young people in Welsh and English. The Academi is keen to encourage the following in particular:

i. English-language writers whose work has a Welsh background
ii. Writers producing longer novels in the Welsh language.

Applicants should provide a representative selection of the work-in-progress.

Maximum award: £10,000

Enabling Bursaries:

4. Enabling Bursaries for specialist equipment (For Disabled Writers only) are awarded to assist Disabled Writers. Examples can include aid for the following:

i. to purchase specialist equipment
ii. to assist with particular travel costs
iii. towards secretarial assistance such as editorial work, typing, printing etc.
iv. for training opportunities relevant to your writing

The Academi can also consider applications for assistance with other issues affecting disabled writers.

Maximum award: £2,000

5. The Miscellaneous Fund can offer small-scale support related to specific writing projects. Examples include travel costs, research, work in other languages, childcare, renting quiet space to write and other items. Capital grants (such as the purchasing of computers) are not available from this fund.
Maximum award: £2,000

Eligibility

Plays are not eligible under this service.

Bursaries will not be awarded to assist work on a thesis or any other piece of formal academic research.

If you have received an Academi Writer’s Bursary during the last two years (2008 and 2009 Bursaries), you may not apply this year.

Recipients of Welsh Books Council commissioning grants are ineligible for funding under the Academi Writers’ Bursaries service.

There are no capital grants under this service, except for disabled writers.

Further information

Applications may be made by writers working in any language, who are resident in Wales at the time of their application and who will continue to reside in Wales throughout the duration of the Bursary [periods of research travel do not affect our definition of your permanent address].

For bursaries aimed at buying time, applicants must ensure that they are able take the time out if they are successful. For example, you may need to check your position with your employer before applying.

The earliest date the Academi 2010 Writers’ Bursaries may start is 1 March 2010. Bursaries must be completed by 31 March 2011. Bursary periods will begin on the first of a month.

For bursaries aimed at buying time, the amount awarded is partly linked with loss of income during the bursary period, whether waged or unwaged. The application asks you to estimate this figure. We will require a verified statement of income if your application is successful. The usual period of a bursary is between 1 and 6 months.

You will need to clarify with the Inland Revenue any personal tax implications of a bursary award. Applicants should seek professional advice on this matter.

For bursaries aimed at capital purchases (for disabled writers only), research, travel etc. the Inland Revenue is likely to calculate a tax liability. Again, applicants should seek professional advice on this matter.

Any work begun, developed or completed under the terms of the bursary award must carry an acknowledgement to the Academi. The exact wording must be discussed with the Academi before publication. The Academi is not responsible for publication grants. Queries in this area should be directed to the Welsh Books Council, Castell Brychan, Aberystwyth, SY23 2JB (01970 624151 www.wbc.org.uk or e-mail them at wbc.grants@wbc.org.uk). The Academi maintains a list of publishers and you may also wish to cross-refer to the Academi’s Mentoring Service for Writers and Publishers, for which separate guidelines are available.

Successful bursary recipients will be required to send a brief mid-term report to the Academi together with a sample of work-in-progress. The Academi appreciates that progress may be slow, however we nevertheless need to see examples of what the bursary is buying. The final payment will be released on receipt of an end-of-term report. At this point we shall require to see evidence of work achieved, whether successful or not. Academi will ask for complimentary copies of any work published as a result of the bursary.

The Academi wishes to welcome into Associate Membership all successful bursary recipients. If not already a member, Academi will enrol the recipient and deduct the annual subscription of £15 from the bursary cheque. Benefits of membership include a wide range of discounts on events and services as well as the ability to stay in touch with the literature scene in Wales.

Academi welcomes enquiries regarding any matter of detail concerning your application.

If you have any particular difficulties in completing an application, please let us know and we shall arrange alternative ways for you to apply for a bursary.

The 2009 Academi Writers’ Bursaries were announced in March 2009.

Click here to find out who has been awarded a bursary in 2009.

The Adjudication Timetable is as follows:

The Bursaries Panel will assess the bursary applications during the period November 2009 and January 2010. The Bursaries Panel will meet in February 2010. Every applicant will be individually informed by letter of the Bursary Panel’s decision. It is anticipated that the names of successful bursary recipients will be announced in March 2010.

There is an annual deadline for Academi Writers’ Bursaries. It is anticipated that the next closing date will be in autumn 2009 (exact date to be confirmed) for the 2010 Academi Writers’ Bursaries.

Click on the link in the box at the foot of this page to download the application form for the 2009 Bursaries. This is for information only - do not use for 2010 bursaries. It is anticipated that application forms for 2010 bursaries will be available in July 2009.

Academi Writers’ Bursaries
The Academi
Chief Executive Peter Finch
Mount Stuart House
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff CF10 5FQ
tel: 029 2047 2266
fax: 029 2049 2930
post@academi.org

The Academi is the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Writers. Registered Charity Number 506402. The Academi works with the support of the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Funding to develop your skills

Other ways in which the Academi can help develop you as a writer
Alongside the provision of the Academi Bursaries, which enable writers to buy time to complete a major piece of work, the Academi also provides a number of services which can help you develop your creative and professional skills, and practically further your work.

Critical Service

The Academi’s Critical Service for Writers enables applicants to have their work read and assessed by an experienced writer. Although friends and relatives are often encouraging, a more objective view can help writers to improve their work. Applicants’ readers will produce a report of about 1,000 words which will be critical in the best sense of the term. The reader will be concerned with the literary quality of the work submitted only. Neither applicant nor the reader will know each other’s identity.

The views of the reader are theirs alone and do not represent in any way the opinion of The Academi. We reserve the right to return work which would be unlikely at this stage to benefit from the Critical Service.

Eligibility

The Academi’s Critical Service for Writers is available only to writers living in Wales and writers in the Welsh language.

Plays are not eligible for this Service.

How the Critical Service for Writers works

• Complete the form and enclose a short sample of the work.
• Your sample of work should be no more than 200 lines of poetry or 3,000 words of prose.
• Work must be typewritten on one side of a page only with each page numbered.
• Please do not put your name on the manuscript.
• Always keep a copy of what you send: the Academi cannot accept responsibility for lost originals.
• Send the completed form, your sample of work and payment to Academi, at the address below.
• The service is available throughout the year. Applicants may use the service once during any twelve month period.

The Cost

The fee is £10 for each short sample. A more substantial report can be obtained on longer or completed works. The fee for a full novel or auto/biography is £25 for up to 200 pages and £10 for every 100 pages thereafter. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to: Academi.

How Long will it Take?

For acknowledgement of receipt please enclose a stamped S.A.E. The report will be sent to you within 12 weeks. Please do not phone to check progress within this period.

Click here to download application form.

Academi Critical Service For Writers
The Academi
Chief Executive Peter Finch
Mount Stuart House
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff CF10 5FQ
tel: 029 2047 2266
fax: 029 2049 2930

For an application form e–mail your request to post@academi.org quoting a mailing address.

The Academi is the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Writers. Registered Charity Number 506402. The Academi is supported by the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Mentoring

The Service

The Academi’s Mentoring Service for Writers offers support and practical advice to writers who show outstanding promise – those in whose work publishers have already expressed a firm interest. The Service is designed to help writers develop that work to a publishable standard.

What can the Service help with?

Writers may ask for assistance to develop a specific piece of work-in-progress. Support will be provided in the form of a number of sessions with an established writer from the same genre who will be able to offer constructive criticism and suggestions to help take the work forward. This tutor will be selected, in consultation with the applicant and the publisher, from a panel of experienced writers established for this purpose. Writers using this scheme will be expected to devote time between tutor-sessions in order to make progress on the work.

Eligibility

Application is open to writers who are resident in Wales at the time of application and who will continue to live in Wales throughout the mentoring period. Writers in the Welsh language living outside Wales are also eligible to apply. Questions on eligibility should be addressed to the Academi before formal application is made.

Writers will not be able to use the Service more than once in any three-year period.

This Service is open to published or unpublished writers but its term cannot run simultaneously with any other Academi Services to Writers award.

How much funding is available?

The Academi’s Mentoring Service for Writers can pay for the cost of the tutor’s time along with travel and subsistence costs for both applicant and tutor. The usual pattern would be to arrange up to five half-day sessions across an agreed period of time. The fund can support around seven writers each year.

How to apply

Applications should be made on a form available from the Academi. Applicants will be asked to submit a sample of the work in question together with a letter of recommendation from a bona fide publisher. The application will be deemed incomplete and ineligible if you do not have a letter of recommendation from a publisher.

We shall acknowledge promptly receipt of your application. The Academi cannot take responsibility for the loss of any original documents.

The decision-making process

From autumn 2007, there will be one closing date each year. This date will be the same as the closing date for Academi Writers’ Bursaries. Applications for mentoring will be assessed by the Academi Writers’ Bursaries Panel, at the same time as the Writers’ Bursaries applications. The Bursaries Panel usually meets in February. It is anticipated that the decisions will be announced in March. If required, reasons for refusal will be given to unsuccessful applicants.

By what criteria will applicants be judged?

The Panel’s decisions will be based on a balance of factors:

• the literary quality of the work submitted
• the probability of publication by a bona fide publisher
• the need to encourage a range and diversity of new writing in Wales
• the weight of recommendation from a recognised publisher. Applications cannot be received from potential self-publishers.
• priority will be given to applicants endorsed by Welsh-based publishers

The closing date for 2010 Mentoring applications is 31 October 2009.

There is an annual closing date for Mentoring applications.

Academi Mentoring Service
The Academi
Chief Executive Peter Finch
Mount Stuart House
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff CF10 5FQ
tel: 029 2047 2266
fax: 029 2049 2930
post@academi.org

The Academi is the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Writers. Registered Charity Number 506402. The Academi works is supported by the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Ad hoc workshops

In addition to the provision of Academi Bursaries Scheme, the Critical Service and Mentoring Scheme, Academi also offers a variety of innovative ad hoc workshops of interest to literary writers, led by leading writers from Wales and beyond throughout the year. Recent workshops have included writing libretti, dance writing and performance poetry. Workshops are free but places are allotted on a strictly first come first serve basis.

The Academi carries full details of forthcoming workshops on its website, so visit regularly to find out about the latest development opportunities for writers in Wales. Writers are also especially encouraged to subscribe to the Academi’s e-newsletter – all the latest news, information and opportunities of interest to writers in Wales delivered directly to your inbox. Click here for further details.