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.
Ben Fountain Receives the 2024 Joyce Carol Oates Prize
Ben Fountain's work has received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, the PEN/Cerulli Award for Excellence in Sports Writing, and a Whiting Award, and has been a finalist for the National Book Award and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His novel BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK was adapted for film by three-time Oscar winner Ang Lee, and his short stories and nonfiction have appeared in the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, Harper's, The Paris Review, Esquire, the Guardian, Le Monde (France), Reporto Sexto Piso (Mexico), and Intranqui'illites (Haiti), among other places. He lives in Dallas, and is a former attorney in private practice.
Read the 2024 Prize Announcement press release.
Join us for a virtual event with Ben Fountain in conversation with Joyce Carol Oates, moderated by Joe Di Prisco on Thursday, May 23rd, at 4pm Pacific. Register here.
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 Offering 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
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.