Writing Freedom Fellowship
About the Program
Writing Freedom aims to recognize and elevate the vital artistic and cultural contributions of poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers impacted by the carceral system.
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Background
The Writing Freedom Fellowship recognizes talented emerging and established poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers impacted by the carceral system.
Twenty fellows are given professional development opportunities, join a community of writers, and receive an award.
More than two million people are imprisoned in the United States at any given time. Beyond prison and jail, the long tentacles of the carceral system impact millions more, through the border regime, policing and probation, family policing, and involuntary commitment.
Carceral institutions leave a profound impact not only on those who experience imprisonment but also on their families and communities. These systems are designed to engender isolation, dehumanization, and social stigma, and disproportionately harm communities of color and those living in poverty.
“Our understanding of American life is incomplete without voices that represent the experience and perspective of the millions of system-impacted people who live and work alongside us every day,” writes Tayari Jones, Writing Freedom advisory board member.
The Writing Freedom Fellowship aims to support and elevate the work of system-impacted writers and to help imagine a world beyond the carceral system’s punishing grasp.
The fellowship has been developed in partnership with the Mellon Foundation and the Art for Justice Fund, and in close consultation with an advisory board of established writers and advocates committed to supporting system-impacted individuals.
Program Details
Developed and led by Haymarket Books in close partnership with the Mellon Foundation and the Art for Justice Fund, the Writing Freedom Fellowship aims to elevate the essential literary voices and contributions of poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers impacted by the carceral system. Now in its third year, the fellowship offers crucial support to twenty emerging and established writers annually, recognizing them for their notable and necessary writing.
Writers impacted by the carceral system are underrepresented in the literary world. In addition to censorship and retaliation, many are subject to an array of harms including isolation, financial hardship, social stigma, family separation, and the lasting consequences of confinement. Writing Freedom recognizes and elevates the urgency and brilliance of these writers and their contributions, which are vital to our society and to our literary culture. The fellowship aims to foster creative practice, provide material support, and encourage community.
We use the term “impacted by the carceral system” in a broad sense, and with an understanding that the reach of the carceral system is wide and both includes and extends beyond formal imprisonment in prisons, jails, and detention centers to parole and probation. The tentacles of the carceral system reach those who are criminalized by the border regime, by policing and family policing, and by involuntary commitment. The impact of the carceral system extends to close family members of those who are more directly impacted.
Writing Freedom was designed and developed thanks to the insight and support of dozens of writers, advocates, and fellow arts administrators who have deep knowledge of and experience navigating the criminal legal system.
Writing Freedom Fellows are selected based on nominations from a diverse group of writers and advocates with a record of working with system-impacted writers.
All nominations include a writing sample and a recommendation letter. Nominations are read and evaluated by a team of readers. A group of finalists are selected. Finalists are invited into the process. From that group of finalists, members of the fellowship’s selection committee are tasked with recommending twenty writers for the cohort.
The 2026 Writing Freedom selection committee was composed of five writers: Safia Elhilo, Jaquira Díaz, Luis J. Rodriguez, Sarah Schulman, and Jenisha Watts.
On principle, we do not use this process to inquire into a person’s conviction(s) or the extent of harm any one person has caused.
Writing Freedom Fellows receive opportunities for professional development, are drawn into a community of writers, and are given an award.
Writing Freedom Fellows are selected based on nominations by a diverse group of writers and advocates. There is no open application process for Writing Freedom.