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Our Scholarship Programme

Each year, we award free places on selected courses to writers who otherwise could not afford to attend.

Scholarships will be awarded to writers whose work shows significant promise but who would for financial reasons be unable to attend the course. We particularly welcome applications from writers of colour, disabled writers and LGBTQ+ writers.

Please ensure you have read all the Faber Academy Scholarship terms and conditions below before making your application. If you have any queries, get in touch.

This term's scholarship places

These courses are currently accepting applications for a scholarship place. To apply, you’ll just need to email academy@faber.co.uk with the required application documents. For most courses this will consist of a covering letter and a sample of writing – you can find more information about what to submit for each specific course below.

Please avoid applying for your chosen course via the submission portal – the ‘Apply now’ button on the relevant course page – as these places are administrated separately. Please include a subject line with your email stating 'Scholarship application' along with the title of the course you’d like to apply for (if you’re applying for Writing a Novel, please specify whether it’s the online, London or Newcastle course) and your name . It would really help us if you could also include that information in the title of all your documents (eg ‘Scholarship application for Writing a Novel (London) – Nicci Cloke covering letter’).

In your covering letter, tell us why you want to do the course, why you want to write this story, and why you need the scholarship to help. The sample of prose you submit doesn’t need to be from something you’ll work on during the course, but it is most useful to us if it’s something not too dissimilar in terms of genre and voice.

Please note that if you apply for a scholarship and are unsuccessful you will not be eligible to book on to or apply for a paying place until the next iteration. The reasoning here is brutish: Faber Academy Scholarships are for people who could not afford to attend the course otherwise. This is a way of limiting applications to just that set of writers.

The full terms and conditions of our scholarship programme are below, along with the answers to some frequently asked questions. For more information, get in touch.

The deadline for current scholarship applications are:

London:
The Salon: Developing Your Poems – 5 January 2025
Writing Fiction – 12 January 2025
Writing a Novel (Evening) – 12 January 2025
Writing a Novel (Daytime) – 12 January 2025
Writing Fiction – 6 April 2025
Writing Poems – 6 April 2025
Writing a Novel (Evening) – 7 September 2025
Writing a Novel (Daytime) – 7 September 2025

Online:
Getting Started: Beginners' Fiction (January) – 31 December 2024
Kickstart Your Novel (January) – 31 December 2024
Writing a Novel (January) – 6 January 2025
Finish Your Draft (February) – 20 January 2025
Writing Poems (January) – 9 January 2025

Newcastle:
For information about scholarships in Newcastle, please get in touch with the team on academy@faber.co.uk

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I apply for more than one scholarship place?

Yes, absolutely. You’ll need to submit two separate applications though, according to the specific application requirements for each place. Make sure to include the course title in the email subject line for each application.

 

If you are successful for one scholarship you can also apply for others in future – there is no limit on the number of times you can apply and gaining one scholarship will not preclude you from being awarded another in the future.

If I'm not successful in my application for a scholarship place, can I pay for a place instead?

Unfortunately not. If you apply for a scholarship place and are unsuccessful, you will not be eligible to book on to or apply for a paying place until the next iteration. We know this may sound strict, but our scholarships are intended for people who could not afford to attend the course otherwise.

What do I submit with my covering letter?

For Getting Started: Beginners’ Fiction (in-person and online), please submit up to 500 words on your favourite book or author, along with your covering letter.

 

For Kickstart Your Novel, please submit a 500 word prose sample, along with your covering letter.

 

For Writing a Novel (Evening), Writing a Novel (Daytime) and Writing Fiction, please submit a 1,000 word prose sample, along with your covering letter.

 

For Finish Your Draft, please submit a synopsis of your novel and the first 5,000 words of your novel, along with your covering letter.

 

For Writing a Novel (Online), please submit a synopsis of your novel (250 – 750 words), a 1,000 word prose sample, along with your covering letter. In your covering letter, please include up to 200 words on a book recommendation: which novel would you recommend to another writer, and why?

 

For Writing Audio Drama, please submit 10 pages of script (this will preferably be from a script for an audio drama, but any kind will do if you haven’t written for audio before), along with your covering letter.

 

For Writing Poems, please submit three poems, along with your covering letter.

 

For Advanced Poetry, please submit four to six poems (no more than 1,200 words) along with your covering letter.

When will I hear back about my scholarship application?

We aim to respond to all applications within ten working days of the application closing date.

FABER ACADEMY SCHOLARSHIP
TERMS & CONDITIONS

1. Eligibility

1.1 Your financial status:
The Faber Academy Scholarship is intended to help someone who would not be able to attend the course to do so. It is offered in a spirit of trust. We will not be means-testing applications.

1.2 Evidence:
1.2.1 Faber Academy retains the right to ask you for evidence of any claim you make in your application with regards to either your financial status or your work.
1.2.2 Any information we request and receive in this capacity will be held in confidence and returned to you or destroyed after the Scholarship has been awarded.

2. The Scholarship Awarding Group

2.1 The Scholarship Awarding Group will decide who receives the Faber Academy Scholarship.

2.2 The Group will consist of one or all of the tutors for the relevant iteration of the course, plus the Head of Faber Academy.

2.3 The Group’s decision will be final.

3. Scope

3.1 Courses
3.1.1 The Faber Academy Scholarship is available on certain iterations of Writing A Novel, Writing a Novel (Online), Advanced Poetry and Towards a First Collection.
3.1.2 One scholarship place is offered on the January intake and one on the autumn intake of each course, where applicable.

3.2 Travel and accommodation
3.2.1 The Scholarship covers course fees only.
3.2.2 It does not cover any travel, accommodation or other costs you might incur by attending the course.

4. Withdrawal of the scholarship

4.1 By us
4.1.1 Disciplinary
4.1.1.1 Faber Academy reserves the right to withdraw the Scholarship along with your place on the relevant course in line with the Conduct, Concerns and Complaints policy available here, at any point during the course.
4.1.1.2 In such an event, you will not be eligible to transfer to a paid place.
4.1.2 Ineligibility
4.1.2.1 Faber Academy reserves the right to withdraw the Scholarship if you are found to have been ineligible for it in the first place, as set out in the terms above.

4.2 By you
4.2.1 Transfers/deferrals
4.2.1.1 Should you wish to defer your offer of a scholarship place, you are entitled to do so within one calendar year: eg, if you are offered a scholarship place on a January iteration, you may defer up to the following January.
4.2.1.2 After one year, your scholarship offer is considered void.
4.2.1.3 If you have had a void scholarship offer in the past, you are entitled to reapply for the Faber Academy Scholarship.
4.2.1.4 The Faber Academy Scholarship may not be transferred by you to anyone else.
4.2.1.5 The Faber Academy Scholarship may not be transferred to another course, as per terms above.

5. Data Protection

5.1 In line with the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation, Faber Academy will not store unnecessary information about you for longer than we need to. Your email address will not be added to our mailing list.

5.2 Faber Academy will delete your application within 6 months of the deadline passing.

6. Unsuccessful applications

6.1 If your application is unsuccessful, we’ll let you know within two weeks of the application deadline.

6.2 You will then not be eligible to apply for or book the relevant course until the next iteration; eg, if you apply to the scholarship for the January version of Writing a Novel, you will not be eligible to apply for the course until the autumn version.