Welcome to the Children's Lit Fellows!
The Children's Lit Fellows are up to 12 serious children's or YA writers who receive
a year-long course of advanced instruction that is customized, affordable, comprehensive, and professionally
useful.
Fellows work from home - anywhere in the world - in the Spring and Fall, mentored
on-on-one by members of our outstanding faculty and, twice a year, come together as
a cohort, once in July during the Summer Conference and a second time in January for a special Publishing and Editing Conference.
During their year, Fellows complete one publishable YA or middle grade manuscript, or for chapter and
picture book writers, three to five submission-ready manuscripts.
The program may be taken for graduate credit or non-credit. The credit option provides
an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Children's Literature from SUNY Stony Brook Southampton's
MFA in Creative Writing. We welcome international participants.
Application Deadline is November 15
Five good reasons to apply as a Fellow:
It's flexible
You're busy. We get it. An MFA program, while it'd be nice, is not practical. Who
can take two or three years off to enroll as a full-time student when you already
have a full-time life? Fellows work primarily from home, for a single year, in one-on-one
tutorials with their faculty mentors. They travel to meet as a cohort only twice during
that time.
It's comprehensive
You leave the Fellowship with a completed, book-length manuscript, or a manuscript
and series concept, or three picture books—in hand and submission-ready. Not only
that, you have the opportunity to present your work to leaders in the publishing world
at the culminating Publishing and Editing Conference. There, it's just the twelve
of you, mingling with agents, editors and reviewers from the likes of HarperCollins,
ICM, Little Brown, Scholastic and School Library Journal.
It's affordable
You get the kind of quality mentorship, access and support that MFA programs provide,
but at a fraction of the price. For the non-credit option, the entire year-long program
costs around $9,500, or roughly $2,300 per semester.
It's customized
You are one of a maximum of twelve Fellows, and your mentors are hand-picked to best
fit you and your manuscript. The entire experience is tailored to support your unique story.
It's connected
You've heard of the Hamptons? Well, so have they. Our stunning location has long been
a refuge for writers, painters, actors, and other professionals of stature in the
arts. We attract top talent from New York City, only 80 miles away, and our own community
to give you only the highest caliber faculty, and the biggest names in publishing. Once
admitted, you join a culture that is both challenging and collegial. It can be a shock
to find yourself sitting next to the author you've long admired, an author who knows
your name and treats you as the serious writer that you are. Get used to it! This
program's designed to bring you into close collaboration with all our faculty and
guest editors, agents and authors.
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