The Horror Writers Association (HWA), the premier organization of writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy and home of the iconic Bram Stoker Awards®, will be offering endowments to libraries to fund teen writing programs as part of its ongoing dedication to furthering young adult literacy.
The Young Adults Write Now fund will provide up to five (5) endowments of $250 each per year for selected libraries to establish new, or support ongoing, writing programs. The program is currently open to United States libraries, but will be expanded in the future to include other countries, as part of the HWA’s global presence. Membership in the HWA is not a requirement.
“The HWA and libraries have built up a great partnership, especially through the Summer Scares program,” said Becky Spratford, co-chair of the HWA’s Library Committee. “As a writers organization, we want to help foster the next generation of creators, and libraries are a great space in which to do this. Many libraries already host teen writers’ groups, others are looking into to starting these groups but don’t have the budget space to do so. We hope these endowments will help libraries host programs and add more YA horror to their collections in order to become a resource for teens interested in exploring Horror within their own writing.”
“For years, the HWA has engaged in library outreach and urged members to work more with their local libraries, so this is a perfect way to realize those goals,” said former HWA President Lisa Morton. “We look forward to working more closely with libraries to expand public awareness of, and appreciation for, horror literature.”
After clicking the Submittable Application link below, you will see:
- Fields for the library name, contact name, address, and email address.
- Field for Name of Writing Program
- Field for Name of Program Coordinator
- Field for Brief Description of Writing Program
- A “Plan” field. Minimum 250 words, maximum 500 words. This is where you should explain:
- How the endowment would be used
- The goals and history (if applicable) of your writing program
- How the writing program will be regular and ongoing
RULES
- Membership in HWA is not necessary in order to apply.
- The application period each year will run from August 1 to October 1, with recipients selected in October.
- Funds will be distributed based on the result of a competitive selection process coordinated by the HWA’s Library Committee.
- The Library Committee will select up to five (5) recipients from the applications.
- Applicants must fill in and submit the Application Form designed for that purpose. Please use the below link.
- Eligibility: Public and community libraries will be eligible. The Applicant must outline how the endowment would be used (a “Plan”) and describe the goals and history (if applicable) of the writing program. In selecting the recipients, the team shall focus primarily (but not exclusively) on advancing the writing of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction (essays). An emphasis on genre fiction (horror, science fiction, fantasy) in the plan is desired but not required. The Applicant shall demonstrate that the writing program will be regular and on-going.
- Recipients receiving funding will be able to use the monies for anything relating to the proposed/active writing program, including but not limited to books—specifically young adult horror and books on writing, supplies, special events, publishing costs, guest speakers/instructors, additions to the collection, and operating expense. Monies may not be used to fund other programs or expenses for the library.
- Recipients are required to provide the Library Committee with a report of how the monies were used within 12 months of receiving the endowment.
- Endowment recipients agree to provide bios and photographs to HWA for use in promoting the endowment program; and recipients will also agree to reasonable requests for interviews regarding the assistance provided by the HWA.
HWA is dedicated to promoting the horror genre and providing education to both the general public (via our appearances at conventions and book festivals, our yearly StokerCons, and our iconic Bram Stoker Awards®) and to writers.
Through its Library Committee, the HWA engages libraries with Summer Scares, its summer reading program in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, that provides an annual list of recommended titles and accompanying programming guide produced by the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library, to introduce readers and librarians with new authors to help foster conversations and promote reading.
One of HWA’s missions is to encourage public interest in and foster an appreciation of quality Horror and Dark Fantasy literature. To that end we offer the public areas of our website, www.horror.org; sponsor or take part in public readings and lectures; publish a monthly newsletter for members; maintain outreach to booksellers, librarians, fans and readers; facilitate readings and signings by horror writers; offer scholarships; maintain an official presence at genre convention, literary festivals, and publishing trade shows; and hold our own yearly gathering, StokerCon.
For more information, visit www.horror.org or email HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump at [email protected].