The Neev Literature Festival (NLF) announced its first fellowships for children’s book writers and illustrators to promote high-quality, richly detailed children’s books that bring to life Indian identities and experiences.
The fellowship is open for proposals from children’s book creators to produce a book, in English, in any genre for young readers. The NLF Fellowships will support selected book creators with a grant of Rs 6,00,000 each for a period of one year for researching and writing their book. Indian citizens and residents who are persons of Indian origin are eligible for the fellowship.
According to Kavita Gupta Sabharwal, co-founder, Neev Literature Festival, the fellowships aim to “fill a gap that will hopefully encourage Indian writers to embark on imaginative, ambitious, and research driven literature for Indian audiences that is rooted in Indianness.” Apart from financial support, the NLF Fellowships will provide mentorship and editorial support, ensure greater visibility, and take it to a global readership.
The applications for the fellowship opened on March 31, and the last date to apply is June 30. The recipients of the fellowship will be announced in October 2023 at the Neev Literature Festival. The jury for the fellowship comprises Kavita Gupta Sabharwal, Ameen Haque (founder, Storywallahs), and Karthika Gopalakrishnan (director, NLF).