Ready to take your manuscript to the next level?

 

Co-founded and co-directed by Meg Wolitzer and Susan Scarf Merrell, Bookends is a non-credit intensive to help writers turn their full-length manuscripts into polished form.

As a BookEnds fellow, you’ll spend a year writing, revising, and editing your manuscript alongside a small cohort of talented fiction writers with promising novel drafts. You’ll dive deep into your characters’ worlds using the unique BookEnds methodology and interrogatory techniques, with distinguished mentors such as Karen E. Bender, Matthew Klam, Lincoln Michel, Rachel Pastan, and Dawnie Walton to guide you along the way.

 

Meet Our Team

Want to know more?

Successful applicants must demonstrate a sustained commitment to their manuscripts, as well as the ability to work well in groups (what we call “pods”), to give and receive constructive feedback. There are four mandatory virtual meetings in May-June 2025 before we meet in July 2025 at the Southampton Writers Conference. Throughout the year, fellows meet with their pods and mentors, as well as stay in close communication with the Fellowship on Slack. In January 2026, we meet for a virtual retreat. In July 2026, the cohort returns to the Southampton Writers Conference for graduation and alumni retreat.

 

 

 How It Works

Think BookEnds could be right for you?

 

Applications for the 2025-2026 Fellowship Nine open on October 15, 2024. 

You can write to us with any questions at BookEnds@stonybrook.edu.

 

 

 How To Apply