The deadline is approaching for the Ellen Meloy Fund Desert Writers Award. The $5,000 prize is intended to enable a nonfiction writer to spend creative time in a desert environment. The fund specifically seeks to support projects that will contribute “new perspectives and deeper meaning to the body of desert literature.” Writers must detail a literary or creative nonfiction book project that they hope to develop through the fund in their application. The award is open to both U.S. and international applicants, and writers may seek to travel to any desert in the world.
Using only the online submission system, submit up to 10 pages of creative nonfiction, a project proposal, and a biographical statement of up to one page with a $15 entry fee by January 15. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.
The Ellen Meloy Fund was founded in honor of the accomplished essayist and desert writer Ellen Meloy, who died in 2004. The Desert Writer Award was first given in 2006. Then $1,000, the grant size has steadily increased over the years. Victoria Blanco of Minneapolis received the most recent award and is at work on a book project involving the Chihuahuan Desert.