/College of Arts and Sciences
Creative Writing, Film and Television

BookEnds program logo next to three lines reading "One Novel, One Mentor, One Year."

Apply to be a BookEnds Fellow!

 

Co-directed by Meg Wolitzer and Alison Fairbrother, BookEnds is an innovative, yearlong and low-residency novel revision program, giving writers the tools, support, and community to take their work from promising draft all the way to completion. 

As a BookEnds fellow, you’ll spend a year writing, revising, and editing your manuscript alongside a small cohort of talented fiction writers with promising novel drafts. You’ll dive deep into your characters’ worlds using the unique BookEnds methodology and interrogatory techniques, with distinguished mentors such as Karen E. Bender, Matthew Klam, Lincoln Michel, Rachel Pastan, and Dawnie Walton to guide you along the way.

  • BookEnds offers training in a unique revision process,  rooted in critical-response workshop methods with emphasis on the diversification of literary voices—in other words, helping the novelist realize the best version of their work. A BookEnds fellow learns how to revise and edit using a combination of interrogatory techniques designed to help dissect a manuscript’s structure in search of opportunities and weaknesses, as well as to track the way character arcs unfold individually and in tandem.
  • In a given year there are four “pods” of BookEnds fellows, each composed of three carefully-matched students. Students are accepted in groups of three, so a BookEnds offer means that you have already been matched in a pod grouping.  Commitment to this pod group, and the three manuscripts your pod will share, is essential to the success of the BookEnds year.

  • Mentors are assigned in December of the fellowship year. Work with a mentor is the primary focus of the second half of the BookEnds program. The mentorship relationship with an established author takes place alongside continued pod activities and activities shared by the entire fellowship. 

  • At the end of the BookEnds year, fellows return to campus for a public reading and graduation dinner;  an hourlong one-on-one meeting with a seasoned literary agent who will have already read their work; and an alumni retreat featuring a guest author who gives a craft talk and facilitates group discussion of writing and publishing life. We want to stress that the agent meeting is neither a pitch session nor a guaranteed step toward agent representation; rather, it is a valuable opportunity to have an industry expert offer an opinion about a manuscript in terms of its potential in the marketplace, and provide advice about revisions that might still be in order.

  • While our program focuses on helping participants finish or polish their novels by the end of the year, every successful writer knows that each novel has its own path to completion, and that sometimes those paths take surprising turns that require more time. At BookEnds we provide you with the tools and support to do the deepest level of revisions you are capable of tackling. In any case,  your book—and, in many ways, we hope, you—will be transformed by the BookEnds year. Our vibrant alumni group offers ongoing support for revision, querying, publication, and beyond, with an active Slack worksite, virtual writing sessions, and check-in meetings with program directors. The BookEnds Alumni Visiting Writers Series includes guests such as Matt Bell, Melissa Chadburn, Peter Ho Davies, Lucy Ives, Rebecca Makkai, Courtney Maum, Alice McDermott, and Jim Shepard. 

  • 2026-2027 will be our tenth fellowship year!

    In 2026, these BookEnds novels are forthcoming:

    Miranda Shulman's Harmless (Dutton)

    Rachel León's How We See The Gray (Curbstone)

    Marian MItchell Donahue's Backstitch (Galiot)

    Jennifer Yeh's Migratory Creatures (William Morrow)

    Kelly Anderson's The Wild Beneath (Park Row)

    Program publishing highlights:

    In 2020, Caitlin Mullen's Please See Us was selected as one of the New York Times’ top ten crime novels for the year and winner of the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel. In 2022, Alison Fairbrother's The Catch (Random House) was named a New York Times Editors' Choice, while Sue Mell's contest-winning Provenance (Madville) and Coco Picard's contest-winning The Healing Circle (Red Hen) were published to broad acclaim. In 2023, Daisy Alpert Florin's My Last Innocent Year (Holt) was the subject of the New York Times Group Text as well as a New York Times Editors' Choice, while Vanessa Cuti’s The Tip Line (Crooked Lane) was a New York Public Library Summer 2023 Staff Pick. In 2024 Nora Decter's What's Not Mine (ECW Press) and Joselyn Takacs’ Pearce Oysters (Zibby Owens, 2024) were both published to excellent reviews. In summer 2025, Giano Cromley's American Mythology (Doubleday) was released to wide praise.

    We are thrilled for these authors, and proud of all of our BookEnds alums for their dedication to writing craft and commitment to writing community. We look forward to sharing more such news in the near future!

Application Requirements:

● We accept manuscripts for novels or linked short story collections.

● We look for a small number of talented fiction writers with promising novel drafts. BookEnds requires a sustained commitment to a manuscript in progress, and the ability to generate constructive criticism for and with a small group of peers.

● To apply, we require the following documents: novel manuscript, a statement of purpose (300 words maximum), a summary of the novel (300 words maximum), and a resume.

● Applications open November 1, and the deadline is December 20, 2025, or when we reach fifty applications.  Interviews take place in February. Once admitted fellows are notified, they will have seven days to accept the offer. 

● If your manuscript is selected, cost for the program is $10,400. We have a limited number of need-based, partial scholarships to offset the cost of the program. 

●  The application software is generated through Submittable, and therefore requires a Submittable account.

Successful applicants must demonstrate a sustained commitment to their manuscripts, as well as the ability to work well in groups (what we call “pods”), to give and receive constructive feedback. There are four mandatory virtual meetings in May-June 2026 before we meet in July 2026 at the Southampton Writers Conference. Throughout the year, fellows meet with their pods and mentors, as well as stay in close communication with the Fellowship on Slack. In January 2027, we meet for a virtual retreat. In July 2027, the cohort returns to the Southampton Writers Conference for graduation and alumni retreat. 

*ADD IN MEET OUR TEAM EQUIV HERE?*

Applications for the 2026-2027 Fellowship Ten opened November 1 and closed December 20, 2025. We will reopen applications in Fall 2026. For updates and with any questions, write to us at BookEnds@stonybrook.edu.

Apply to be a BookEnds Fellow!

Notable Work by past BookEnds Fellows

 

Important Dates and FAQs:

Required Meeting Dates

Fellowship Ten (2026-2027)

Virtual orientation: May 12, 2026 (3-4 pm EST), and May 19, 26, and June 2, 2026 1-4 pm EST

Writers Conference: July 15-19, 2026

Virtual retreat: January 16, 2027, 1-4 pm EST

Writers Conference: TBA - Summer 2027

Total tuition is $10,400 (subject to change), paid in fall and spring in two lump sums. There is also the option of a payment schedule that divides each half-payment into three, each paid over the course of three months. 

In addition, program fellows are expected to attend the Southampton Writers Conference. Typically, housing and food costs for the conference run approximately $1,000. We have a more exact estimate for these costs by the time of the interviews. 

The BookEnds Page One Endowment allows us to remit a portion of BookEnds fees for select students with genuine need. There is an option to apply for scholarship funding in the BookEnds application. 

There are no full scholarships or stipends. There are no travel scholarships. 

Applications go live November 1. Applications close on December 20 or once we receive fifty applications, whichever comes first. We will only accept one manuscript per writer. Interviews take place in March. Admitted fellows will be notified in early April, and must accept within seven days of receiving the acceptance letter.

The weekly commitment to BookEnds is about 20-25 hours. Most BookEnds fellows have both full-time jobs and family commitments, and fit in the work in the early mornings, late at night, and/or while commuting. How to prioritize writing is a question for all writers, and this is a part of the conversation and support throughout the fellowship and in the alumni group.

The fellowship begins in May 2025 with readings of your podmates’ manuscripts and four virtual meetings in May and June. The program ends with graduation and the alumni retreat at the Southampton Writers Conference in July 2026.

BookEnds is a non-credit program. Most participants have completed a Creative Writing MFA, though it is not required.

Our alums continue the community beyond the fellowship year with critique and accountability meetings, as well as a six-times yearly visiting author series, which includes guests such as Matt Bell, Melissa Chadburn, Laura Warrell, Peter Ho Davies, Rebecca Makkai, Courtney Maum, Alice McDermott, Jim Shepard, and many others.