The Gulliver Travel Research Grant is now accepting applications

The Speculative Literature Foundation awards an annual travel grant of $800 to writers who need to travel for research. This grant can be used to “cover airfare, lodging, and/or other travel expenses” and make it possible for a writer to experience the geography and culture of a place they’re writing about first-hand. From the SLF website:

“Our travel grants will be awarded by a committee of SLF staff members on the basis of interest and merit. Factors considered will include:

• a one-page written description of the project in question, including details on the travel location and an estimated completion date (no more than 500 words)
• a writing sample in the proposed genre (up to 10 pages of poetry, 10 pages of drama, or 5000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction); please note that the writing sample must be a solo work (work completed only by the applicant).
• a bibliography of previously-published work by the author (no more than one page, typed); applicants need not have previous publications to apply.

If awarded the grant, the recipient agrees to write a brief report of their research experience (500-1000 words) for our files, and for possible public dissemination on our website. PLEASE NOTE: This grant, as with all SLF grants, is intended to help writers working with speculative literature.”

Overall, the application process is simple:

• Send the three items listed above to our travel grant administrator as attached .doc files, to travel@speculativeliterature.org. Include a brief cover letter with your name and contact info (e-mail, phone in case of emergency). If you have questions, direct them to that same address.
• You may apply for travel to take place at any point in the following year (from October to the following October).
• Travel may take place from any country to any country, or internally within a country; the grants are unrestricted. Funds will be disbursed in U.S. currency (but can be sent through PayPal if that is more convenient for international recipients).
• Travel grant applications will be considered from July 1st to September 30th, annually. Applications received outside that period will be discarded unread.
• The grant recipient will be announced by November 15th, annually. All applicants will be notified of the status of their application by that date.

Learn more here. Let me know if you have questions which aren’t answered by the site, and I’ll do my best to help you sort it out.

I’m pleased to be assisting The Gulliver Travel Research Grant as a juror this year. I’ve worked with their Grants Administrator, Malon Edwards, before (he wrote “In the Marrow” which I published at Lakeside Circus) and you know I love speculative literature in general. Malon tells me that “the Travel Grant is the one that we get the least amount of applications for”. I think we can change that.

#SFWAPro