Grants for works in progress
Full details
The Society of Authors is one of the few organisations to make grants to writers for works in progress, currently awarding over £360,000 each year.
The Authors’ Foundation and K Blundell Trust award grants to writers whose book project is for a commercial UK publisher.
The Authors’ Foundation Award came at a time when I was finding it difficult funding the research and travel involved. It was also difficult finding the time to write as I needed to hustle to care for my family. Life in Nigeria is difficult at this time, more so for writers/artists as there are no support platforms as this. The grant from the Society of Authors provided me with all the support I needed. I completed the manuscript (127,000 words long) in record time. So, I am indeed indebted and grateful to the Society of Authors for this support without which it would have been difficult and nearly impossible to finish my manuscript in the same year as I started it.
Obinna Udenwe (2023 recipient)
My Author’s Foundation grant last June completely transformed my next poetry collection, Beast, to be published by Bloodaxe in April 2025. Suddenly I was able to travel to the Languedoc for research, discover and fall in love with the Camargue, which inspired a whole new sequence of poems. Then, when I returned home, I could turn down teaching work to fully focus on writing. I’m the main provider for two, on a freelance poet’s income, and the grant let me breathe poetry instead of money worries. It gave me a timely confidence boost that my project was worth supporting. Poems are elusive creatures, but the grant invited them in. I’m so grateful to the Society of Authors and especially for selecting me for the Arthur Welton award. I now feel that Beast has new dimensions and possibilities and am excited to further explore the wildlife and legendary beasts of the Camargue and of my father’s life there.
Pascale Petit (2023 recipient)
From 2021, Authors’ Foundation grants included the World of Books Impact Award – two annual grants of £5,000 each for books of any genre that have the power to inspire progressive behaviour change – awarded for the first time in October 2021.
Deadlines
There are no deadlines for this fund as it is open on a rolling basis. Please download the below form and submit to grants@societyofauthors.org in order to apply.
If you have any questions please get in touch with us via grants@societyofauthors.org. If you are in need of immediate assistance please consider an application to our Contingency Fund which is open year-round.
We are currently experiencing high volumes of applications to the
Authors’ Foundation and K Blundell Trust. You should receive a response
acknowledging your application but there may be a wait of up to five
months for a decision. Our team are working to reduce wait times and we
will keep you informed of any further delays.
Once you have received a decision from the grants team payment is made within 10 working days of the SoA receiving your payment information.
If you have any questions please get in touch via grants@societyofauthors.org.
Grants from the Authors’ Foundation are usually between £2,000-£3,500 and are a maximum of £6,000.
How to apply
You are eligible to apply if
You have been commissioned by a commercial British or Irish publisher to write or translate a full-length work of fiction, poetry, or non-fiction and need funding (in addition to any publisher’s advance) for important research, travel, or other general expenditure.
or
You are without a contractual commitment with a publisher but have had at least one book published commercially by a British or Irish publisher, of which you are the sole author or translator, and there is a strong likelihood that your next book will be published in Britain or Ireland.
In both cases you must have a non-contributory contract (either currently or for a previous publication) where you, the author, did not pay funds towards publication costs.
and for scriptwriters and playwrights:
You have previously had a work of which you are the sole author professionally performed on stage, screen, or radio.
or
You are currently under contract to write a script that will be professionally performed on stage, screen, or radio.
“Professionally performed” means authors must have been commissioned to write their script or have been commissioned previously for a script that was performed on stage, screen, or radio. As with translators, if your script is prospective and requires rights, it must be demonstrated that these have been acquired or at least taken into consideration.
Self-published books are not currently eligible for the funds. This, and all criteria for the funds, is kept under review by the trustees.
- No author may apply to the Foundation twice in the same year.
- Grants are only given for one work in progress.
- Successful applicants must wait four years before reapplying to the Foundation. For example if you received funds in 2020 you must wait until 2025 before reapplying.
- Grants will not be awarded to cover publication or production costs. Read more in our Frequently Asked Questions.
- Editors are not eligible.
About the grants
The grants are awarded through the Authors’ Foundation and K Blundell Trust registered charities, and are comprised of a range of specific awards.
Authors’ Foundation
The Authors’ Foundation was set up from donations by authors in 1984. It has received contributions from authors, charitable trusts, and the Royal Literary Fund.
Applications to the Authors’ Foundation will also be considered for the World of Books Impact Award.
Charity number 326605 / Arthur Welton 282446
K Blundell Trust
The K Blundell Trust, generously endowed by the late Kathleen Blundell, gives grants of up to £6,000 to British authors under the age of 40 whose work, which can be fiction or non-fiction, aims to increase social awareness.
Charity number 296487
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