Associates of the BPL Announce Applications for the Writer-in-Residence Now Available

Special to the Review

The Associates of the Boston Public Library is posting a call for applications for the 2025–26 Writer-in-Residence program. Now in its twenty-first year, the year-long residency provides an emerging writer with the financial support, editorial assistance, and office space in the Boston Public Library (BPL) to complete one literary work for children or young adults. The program stipend has been increased from $50,000 (formerly$23,000) to $70,000 thanks to the generosity of an anonymous investor dedicated to writers having a living wage.

In addition to the stipend, the winner will receive additional funds for editorial assistance or coaching, and an office in the Boston Public Library’s Central Branch from October 2025 to September 2026. Projects eligible for this program include fiction, non-fiction, a script, poetry works, or graphic novels intended for children or young adults. The program guidelines and application form are available at

https://associatesofthebostonpubliclibrary.submittable.com/submit. Submissions are due by June 6, 2025, at 11:59 PM. The winner will be selected via a blind judging process. To learn more about the program visit www.writer-in-residence.org.

The Associates’ Writer-in-Residence program has made a profound difference in the lives of emerging authors, helping to launch the careers of a number of acclaimed children’s and young adult writers. To date, alumni have published or have forthcoming more than eighty books.

“Not only did I apply to the Writer-in-Residence program with the opening pages of this novel, it was because of this prestigious residency that I garnered the attention of my literary agent, completed a draft of the novel, and sold it as part of a two-book deal! I feel so grateful for the support I received from the Associates of the Boston Public Library,” said 2023–24 recipient Rhonda DeChambeau, whose novel, written during her residency, is set to be published on June 10, 2025. 

The Associates is an independent non-profit that raises funds to preserve, digitize, and promote the Boston Public Library’s Special Collections and its historic, literary, and artistic treasures. Since its inception in 1972, the Associates has been the driving force and sponsor behind many programs, including the Pierce Performance Series, the Hundred-Year Book Debate, and Literary Lights. For more information, please visit www.AssociatesBPL.org or connect with us on Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.