The Speculative Literature Foundation announces an open application period during November for the annual Gulliver’s Travel Grant, to help speculative literature writers in their non-academic research.

Since 2004, the Gulliver Travel Grant has been awarded annually to assist writers of speculative literature in their non-academic research. These funds are used to cover airfare, lodging, and other travel expenses. Travel may be domestic or international. You may apply for travel to take place at any point in the following year.

This grant, as with all SLF grants, is intended to help writers working with speculative literature. Speculative literature spans the breadth of fantastic writing, encompassing literature ranging from hard science fiction to epic fantasy, including ghost stories, horror, folk and fairy tales, slipstream, magical realism, and more. Any piece of literature containing a fabulist or speculative element would fall under our aegis.

This grant is awarded on the basis of interest and merit. If awarded the grant, the recipient agrees to provide a brief report of their research experience (500-1,000 words) and an autobiographical statement describing themselves and their writing (500-1,000 words) for our files and for public dissemination on our website and mailing list.

Please note that the goal of these grants is to help as many writers as possible, so recent winners can reapply but will be considered low-priority within a 2-year window of winning.

Grant Application Process

The application form for the Gulliver Travel Grant is only active during the open submission period: 12:00AM November 1 – 11:59PM November 30, Annually (All times UTC -4). Required materials include:

• A cover letter: Include a one-page written description of the project, including details on the travel location and an estimated completion date (no more than 500 words), and a bibliography of previously published work, if applicable. Applicants need not have prior publishing credits to apply.
• A writing sample: Up to 10 pages of poetry, 10 pages of drama, or 5,000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction. If you are sending a segment of a novel, novella, or novelette, please include a one-page synopsis as the first page of the document. The submitted work must be speculative, as defined above.

Jurors will deliberate with the goal of announcing the winner within three months.

About the Speculative Literature Foundation

Launched in January 2004 to promote literary quality in speculative fiction, the Speculative Literature Foundation addresses historical inequities in access to literary opportunities for marginalized writers. Speculative fiction is an umbrella term for any literature with a speculative or fantastical element, anything that isn’t strictly realist, such as science fiction, fantasy, folklore, fairy tales, ghost stories, and more.

Our staff and board are committed to representing racial, gender, and class diversity at all levels of our organization. This commitment is at the heart of what the Speculative Literature Foundation stands for: equal access to create and advance science fiction, fantasy, and horror literature. We strive to enable writers at any stage of their career and of any age, any ethnicity, any gender expression, from any location and of any economic or social status, who want to learn about, or create within, the speculative arts.

To apply yourself, visit SpeculativeLiterature.org.

More than thirty volunteers, directed by Mary Anne Mohanraj, work on an ongoing basis to:

• Present individual and organizational grants and awards.
• Raise funds for redistribution to quality work, by individuals and organizations.
• Develop booklists and other materials to use in outreach efforts to schools and libraries.
• Provide information and education to speculative fiction readers, writers, editors and publishers.