Editorial Fellowship
We are thrilled to announce that we have selected Terry Hudson as our 2025 Editorial Fellow!
Nightboat’s Editorial Fellowship is designed to provide an aspiring BIPOC editor with $10,000, along with the resources and mentorship necessary to develop and publish a book project of their choosing over the course of two years.
We are thrilled to work with Terry on their project. Over the course of their Nightboat Editorial Fellowship, Terry will work to bring a long out-of-print work back into the world.
To learn more about Terry, click here!
The Nightboat Editorial Fellowship
“Nightboat’s fellowship has allowed me to grow and deepen my editorial skills in an environment built on tenderness, support, and rigor. The editorial staff offered meaningful thought partnership that helped me develop a rich editorial project, one that I am so thrilled to get to work on from development to publication.”
—Naima Yael Tokunow, Nightboat’s 2022 Fellow
Read an interview with Nightboat’s current Editorial Fellow, Naima Yael Tokunow
Nightboat staff designed the Editorial Fellowship to explore a new editorial model that incorporates community input and expands access to editorial decision-making to those of diverse circumstances and identities.
Seeking to support the labor of editors of color, we are delighted to open applications for our second Editorial Fellowship. We are looking for an aspiring BIPOC editor to work alongside Nightboat staff to develop a book project of their choosing over the course of two (2) years. Black and Indigenous editors are strongly encouraged to apply. Projects should not be comprised of the applicant’s original work.
We hope to work collaboratively with this Editorial Fellow to foreground undervalued or little-known forms of experimental writing across a range of communities. As such, we’ll be providing the selected Fellow with the resources and mentorship necessary to acquire, edit, and guide to publication a project specific to their interests.
What you’ll get out of the fellowship:
*Familiarity with the full life-cycle of a book and the guidance of Nightboat staff and other project mentors through the 2-year process.
*Experience working collaboratively with an editorial team to research and pursue potential projects and clarify editorial perspectives.
*Experience with developmental and conceptual editing, line editing, copy editing, permissions, design, cataloging, production, publicity, and marketing.
*A personalized program of meetings with Nightboat staff, external editorial mentors, and workshops based on your needs and interests.
*An in-depth understanding of the publication process that can be applied to future jobs and projects.
*$10,000 (paid in installments—$5,000 per year of the fellowship or according to the fellow’s individual needs) for their work and participation in the program.
What we’re looking for:
*Someone who is interested in the editorial and book-making process and can commit to a two-year project that will result in a finished book.
*Experience in editorial work is preferred but not required. Our goal is to increase access to editorial work. Therefore we do not require that you have any formal institutional and/or academic experience. We welcome a variety of editorial experiences and visions.
*Applicants do not need to have a pre-existing editorial project in order to apply, so long as they can demonstrate an editorial perspective and intent. Projects should not be comprised of the applicant’s original work.
*We are open to poetry, prose, nonfiction, archival projects, and what coalesces in the gaps between. We are, as always, excited by the provocative, the strange, the queer, what activates genre, and what’s been elided or excised from the archive.
*The Fellow must feel confident working independently. Since this is not an hourly position, attention will be paid to setting up an individualized meeting/workshop schedule and supportive project management structure that functions with the Fellow’s unique employment situation in mind.
*The fellowship involves some administrative work i.e.: sending and responding to emails from collaborators and Nightboat staff, scheduling meetings, updating collaborators on the status of your work, staying organized, and working within deadlines. You will need access to a computer and the internet. Nightboat will share our project management resources, offer examples and templates whenever possible, and work with you to set and manage deadlines.
*Applicants do not have to be based in NYC but must live in the United States and be able to attend scheduled Zoom meetings and workshops.
*We approximate that this fellowship will require a commitment of 400 hours at $25/ hour in total, approximately 15 hours/month over the course of 2 years.
Finalists will be chosen through an open application process by a committee of current and former Nightboat editors before meeting with Nightboat staff members for a final interview process this fall. Selections will be made based on the applicant’s ability to provide a unique perspective on experimental literature; to reimagine, expand, or illuminate archival projects; to explore the complex relationships that arise between social, political, and aesthetic concerns; to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of Nightboat’s mission and an interest in expanding it productively.
The selected Fellow will start work at Nightboat in January 2025. Dates TBA & schedule subject to change.
Submissions for the 2025 Nightboat Editorial Fellowship Are Now Closed
To Apply:
Please provide the following using our online Submittable application.
1) A statement summarizing your editorial interests and previous literary experience (500 words)—what are you reading/listening to/watching right now? What writing, performance, events, and community organizing have you participated in?
2) An example of a project(s) you’d be interested in bringing to Nightboat. This can be purely speculative (200 words)—is there a writer whose work you think deserves collecting? What kinds of aesthetic forms are you invested in? Are there communities outside of experimental writing you’d like to collaborate with and engage? Please note, if you are awarded the Editorial Fellowship, you will not be required to pursue this particular project.
3) A current CV.
Eligibility—applicants must:
*Identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Color. We will not make judgments in relation to the boundaries of that category; we trust that those who apply will do so in good faith.
*Be able to commit to the two-year fellowship position.
*The applicant must live in the United States and be authorized to work within the U.S. This includes: U.S. Permanent Residents, DACA recipients, and U.S. Citizens.
Nightboat Books is committed to the principles of equal opportunity, equity in employment, accessibility, and to becoming a more inclusive organization. Individuals who have questions about accommodation and accessibility during the application process and beyond, or any general inquiries about the program are invited to contact us at [email protected] or check out our frequently asked questions page.