Grants for writers facing financial difficulty
As our research into authors’ incomes demonstrates, a career in writing is often financially precarious. If you’re currently facing financial difficulties, whether that be due to an unexpected bill or illness, you may be eligible for a grant from the Royal Literary Fund (RLF).
The RLF is the world’s oldest literary charity dedicated to supporting professional writers in financial difficulty. Over the centuries, the RLF has provided both short and long-term hardship grants to writers requiring additional financial support.
Previous beneficiaries have included Anna Burns, Margaret Busby, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Hanif Kureishi, DH Lawrence, Doris Lessing, Edith Nesbit, Mustapha Matura, Edna O’Brien, Mervyn Peake, Ali Smith, Bram Stoker and Dylan Thomas.
What does an RLF grant cover?
An RLF grant can help cover basic living costs such as rent, utilities, groceries, or additional costs associated with long-term disabilities or health conditions. There are also short-term grants available to cover a particular or unforeseen one-off cost, including repairs to your home or an unexpected bill.
Grants are intended solely to relieve the applicant’s distress, not as a loan or tied to the completion of a literary work.
Am I eligible for a grant?
To be eligible to apply for a grant, you must:
- Hold UK or Irish citizenship OR reside in the UK or Ireland
- Have at least two works professionally published or produced in the UK or Ireland that meet the criteria outlined here.
- Be the sole author of these works
- OR be the dependant of a writer who meets the eligibility criteria above
Interested in applying for an RLF grant?
If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can make an enquiry here.
You can also find out more about other named RLF grants with more specific requirements here.
Beneficiary testimonials
“The grant for me was just brilliant. I’d had life-saving surgery and had some follow-on issues, and it was a really difficult time. And the Royal Literary Fund took away quite a lot of anguish for me.” – Jayne Joso
“I did have problems coping in my life and I had really nowhere else to turn. They obviously had a notion that creative people who come upon had times deserve to live in a degree of dignity.” – Bill Broady
“Over a twenty-year career, the RLF has bailed me out three times with grants, each time as I was going under, in serious debt, with rent arrears. I don’t think my literary career would have survived without this financial aid.” – Monique Roffey
Find out more about the RLF’s grants programme here, or consider donating to the RLF or leaving a bequest to the RLF in your will.
