Please review the following information carefully. If you don’t see your question answered here, please contact Thad Ziolkowski at tziolkowski@gc.cuny.edu for assistance.
Are Fellows required to be in residence in the New York City area for all or part of the fellowship?
Normally fellows are required, at minimum, to attend in-person monthly seminars at the Graduate Center, which is located on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. During the pandemic period, we have been conducting these seminars on Zoom, along with the many events showcasing new biographies that we put on.
Yes, writers of any and all nationalities are eligible.
Healthcare is not a part of the fellowship package.
Yes, writers affiliated with a college or university often arrange leaves-of-absence that include keeping their benefits during the fellowship year.
Having a contract with a publisher is not required (though being awarded a Leon Levy or Sloan fellowship often eventuates in a book contract).
The idea is to exclude from the pool of recommenders anyone with a vested financial interest in the biography under consideration. Thus colleagues, mentors and fellow writers are typically called on to testify about an applicant’s strengths.
There are on average around 110 applications for four regular biography fellowships and one Sloan fellowship. Many of the applicants have a significant record of publications.
Feedback on applications is not offered. NB: most successful applicants are accepted after applying two or three times.
Yes, while the Leon Levy Center strives to support first-time biographers in the process of writing their first biographies, mid-career and senior biographers are also supported by the Center.
Yes, if the subject of a biography is a scientist then applicants may apply for both the regular and the Sloan fellowship.
In effect, yes, but the letters must be resubmitted by the recommender. It’s also advisable to update the letters to reflect whatever progress has been made in the meantime.
Yes, biographies of more than one subject are eligible.
Currently biographies only are being offered fellowships.
Yes, Fellows are given full library privileges at the Graduate Center, including access to a range of major data bases and borrowing privileges within the CUNY consortium.
Each Fellow is assigned a graduate-student research assistant who works 7. 5 hours per week during the academic year, September – May.
The writing sample is probably the most important element of the application, though in the end the letters of recommendation play a significant role too.
No weight is given to the biographical period. Biographies of subjects who lived in any era qualify.
Typically in early April.