The Leon Levy fellowship was a terrific experience for me, especially since I work out of my own home ordinarily and don’t get much feedback. I particularly liked the informal discussions of biography and biographers and I think it may be the only place where you “workshop” a piece of your biography, the kind of supportive and detailed interaction that, as far as I know, is usually only given to fiction writers.

—D.T. Max, 2011–2012 fellow, author of Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace (Viking, 2012).

As a first-time biographer, I derived enormous benefit from the Leon Levy Center for Biography fellowship, not only because it provided a workplace and financial support (two very important factors), but because it put me in regular contact with other biographers, some of whom had significantly more experience working in the genre.

—Susan Bernofsky, 2012–2013 fellow, writing a biography of Robert Walser, the Swiss modernist author.

The Leon Levy Center for Biography offers four resident fellowships and one Sloan fellowship for a biography in science.  Awards include writing space at the CUNY Graduate Center, full access to research facilities, research assistance and a stipend of $72,000. The period of the residencies is September – May of each year.

Fellows devote their time to their projects and participate in monthly seminars and the public events of the Leon Levy Center for Biography, including the annual lecture and the annual conference, and they are encouraged to join in the dynamic intellectual community of the Graduate Center.

Learn about our current and former fellows »

 Learn more about the Sloan Fellowship »

Who Can Apply

While our selection committees evaluate each application on its own merits, preference in the award of fellowships is given to those who have not yet published a biography or received fellowships for the writing of a biography. We also welcome applications from published and accomplished writers who are undertaking their first biography. The Leon Levy Center for Biography does not award fellowships for memoirs, essays, plays, films, or fiction.

Application Requirements

The application period opens on June 1, 2023 and the deadline for this fellowship is January 4, 2024.

Applications require a brief CV or resume (3 pages max), a narrative account of the applicant’s career (250 words), a project description (750 words), a sample of the proposed biography (maximum 2,500 words), and two letters of reference. Applicants are discouraged from seeking letters from their agents, editors, or publishers. Only online/digital applications will be accepted.

Questions? Be sure to read our Fellowships FAQ.

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