COLOR posts a lot about Hollywood and movies and TV and media of that nature, but since I’m in a writerly household, I’ve realized that COLOR could and should cover more about writing opportunities, since like the entertainment world, the writing world is full of racism, discrimination, and blocked opportunities. There are too few writers of color in an industry dominated by white cis-gender men. Thankfully, there are beginning to be more opportunities for writers of color to make it in their chosen profession, and The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) is one of them. 

The AAWW is offering two opportunities for Asian writers emerging on the scene: Open City Project Grants and The Margins Fellowship. Interested writers can learn more about the opportunity from the Workshop’s editors Oct. 29 at the AAWW (112 West 27 Street, Suite 600 New York, NY 10001). Writers can apply to the writing opportunities now until November 9 by 11 p.m. ET.

The Open City Project Grant will give writers the chance to write and publish narrative nonfiction over six months on New York City’s immigrant communities. Grantees will receive $2,500 and publication opportunities in Open City, which, according to AAWW, “documents the pulse of metropolitan Asian America as it’s being lived on the streets of New York City right now.” Grantees will also receive journalism training through the Open City Workshop Series. Three Open City Project Grantees will be brought in between January 2016 and June 2016.

The Margins Fellowship will also give three creative writers a chance have to their writing exposed to a wider audience. The writers, aged thirty and under, will have a chance to create a home base for their writing. Each fellow receives $5,000, access to the AAWW space, and publishing opportunities in AAWW’s workshops, magazines and more. Fellows will also have residencies at the Millay Colony for the Arts, “an innovative seven-acre artists retreat space at the former house and gardens of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay.” The writers will also be writers-in-residence with AAWW’s online magazines, which have been linked to by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The New Inquiry and NPR, and have published Chang-rae Lee, Jessica Hagedorn, Vijay Iyer, Kim Hyesoon, Hanya Yanagihara, and Amitava Kumar.

Again, the application deadline is Nov. 9 at 11 p.m. ET. You can apply to the Open City Project Grant and Margins Fellowship at their respective Submittable pages (here and here)

Good luck to those who enter!

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