People bravely write their hearts out every day in New Literary Project, across generations, & communities, & boundaries.
We drive social change by unleashing artistic power in neglected, overlooked, and undervalued communities.
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work…. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge—even wisdom. Like art.”
— TONI MORRISON
New Literary Project came together in 2015 in partnership between the University of California, Berkeley, English Department, the world’s foremost English Department, in the world’s leading public university, and altruistic community leaders in the Bay Area.
Announcing Five Finalists for the 2024 Joyce Carol Oates Prize
The Joyce Carol Oates Prize annually honors a mid-career fiction writer who has earned a distinguished reputation and the approbation and gratitude of readers. This prize is awarded not in recognition of a book, but for an author: an already emerged and still emerging author of national consequence—short stories and/or novels—at the relatively middle stage of a burgeoning career.
NewLit is proud to announce this year's finalists for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Five finalists have been named from the 31 authors who were longlisted for the prize. They are: Jamel Brinkley, Patricia Engel, Ben Fountain, Idra Novey, and Bennett Sims. This is the eighth consecutive year the JCO Prize will be awarded. The NewLit Board of Directors, which judges and makes the final decision, will announce the Recipient in mid-April 2024. To learn more about the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, please visit our program page.
Meet the Five Finalists for the 2024 Joyce Carol Oates Prize.
Announcing the 2024
Jack Hazard Fellows
NewLit has announced this year’s Jack Hazard Fellows. Jack Hazard Fellows are creative writers who teach high school and are selected for Jack Hazard Fellowships—an innovative, groundbreaking initiative that awards $5,000 Summer Fellowships to support the artistic endeavors of high school teachers from around the country.
For more information about the fellowship, how to apply, and applicant eligibility, visit our Jack Hazard Fellowship Program page.
NewLit to Offer Bonnie Bonetti-Bell Fellowships and Workshops in 2024
The New Literary Project will offer five Bonnie Bonetti-Bell Fellowships and Workshops in 2024. Formerly named Simpson Fellowships, these Bonetti-Bell Workshops will be taught by Bonetti-Bell Fellows who are UC Berkeley graduate students. The creative writing workshops will be offered to young people throughout the Bay Area through partner organizations such as Girls, Inc., Mt. McKinley, Northgate, and Albany High Schools.
For more information about the fellowship, visit our program page and recent announcement.
About Bonnie Bonetti-Bell
Bonnie Bonetti-Bell (1945 – 2019) wrote and read her heart out as soon as she could read and hold a pencil. For most of her life, she read at least one book per week, and she was a compelling storyteller both as a writer and public speaker. Learn More
Manuel Muñoz Receives 2023 Joyce Carol Oates Prize
Manuel Muñoz is the author of a novel, What You See in the Dark, and the short-story collections Zigzagger and The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue, which was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. He has been recognized with a Whiting Writer’s Award, three O. Henry Awards, and an appearance in Best American Short Stories. His most recent book, The Consequences, was published by Graywolf Press in 2022. A native of Dinuba, California, he currently lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.
Our Story
New Literary Project invests in students & teachers, readers & authors, and it inspires and equips writers across the generations to write their hearts out. NewLit offers writing workshops free of charge for underserved younger writers; celebrates storytellers and storytelling through a major national award to a mid-career author of fiction (the Joyce Carol Oates Prize); and makes possible readings, events, and publication in our annual anthology of Project-connected authors, Simpsonistas.
Writing Workshops
New Literary Project leads creative writing workshops at high schools and afterschool programs throughout the Bay Area. The majority of the teenagers in our workshops will be the first in their families to attend college.
Jack Hazard Fellowships
Jack Hazard Fellows are fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir writers who teach full time in an accredited United States high school. We provide a $5,000 award that enables these creative writers who teach to focus on their writing for a summer.
Simpsonistas
Simpsonistas highlights fiction, poetry, essays, and conversation by many brilliant associates of New Literary Project. Authors include teenagers published for the first time alongside distinguished award-winning authors.
Curious to
hear more?
Sign up to stay up to date with New Literary Project.
We promise to keep your information private.