Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellowships

ABOUT

The Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing (WICW) has offered post-graduate fellowships in Madison since 1986, growing out of the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Program in Creative Writing, which was formally established in 1978 by poet and professor Ron Wallace. The program's broader lineage includes writers such as Jean Toomer, Lorraine Hansberry, Gwendolyn Brooks, and more recently Danez Smith and Lauren Groff, and it maintains a nationally competitive MFA. The Institute's fellowships are aimed specifically at emerging writers who have not yet published a first book, giving them a nine-month academic-year appointment in Madison to teach one course and otherwise devote themselves to finishing a manuscript. Alumni of the program have gone on to publish widely reviewed debut collections and novels, and the fellowship is generally regarded as one of the more prestigious 'bridge' positions between an MFA and a first book.