How to find funding as a writer
A guest blog by Jonathan Davidson, Chief Executive at Writing West Midlands
While many writers find funding for their writing by selling it – books, pamphlets, performances – this generally requires the writing to have already been done. Although a pamphlet of poems or a collection of short stories might be assembled without funding, other writing projects, especially long-form fiction, can take years, and to have some funding in advance certainly helps the creativity.
Finding funding for creative writing isn’t easy, but there are a small number of clearly signposted opportunities available. One that specifically supports the development of all the arts and all forms of creative practitioner, including creative writers and creative writing, is funding from Arts Council England (ACE) and equivalent organisations in the home nations.
The National Lottery Project Grants (NLPG) fund, managed by ACE, is open to anyone and applications can be made year-round. These applications can be for any ‘arts project’, although NLPGs tend to favour activities that benefit a range of people or communities. There is also a requirement for match-funding, in-kind or in cash.
Up to 26th February 2026 there is new Research & Development strand within the NLPG fund, which doesn’t require matching funding or audiences or participants. This has been introduced to span the time before Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund comes back on-line in April 2026.
DYCP is ideal for creative writers who want, as the title suggests, to development their creative practice, with funding up to £12K. DYCP isn’t about continuing your existing practice, so it won’t fund another novel or book of poetry, but it is about taking time out from current work to make a step change in practice. Examples include poets developing as radio dramatists, theatre writers moving into long-form fiction or librettists bringing performance poetry into their work.
Other public opportunities for funding tending to want to fund creative writing as a means to an end, for instance to help others engage with culture or to support community initiatives. They are valuable but are less likely to lead to a novel being completed or a collection of poetry being finished. Established writers, with a few publications to their name, can also apply for various funding schemes funding privately. The Society of Authors, for instance, have links to some of these funds.
Most of these sources of funding – and certainly the funds managed by ACE – are competitive, which means success rates are determined not just by the quality of the application but who else – and how many – are applying. For this reason alone, it pays to be stoical and to use some writerly empathy when imagining the process from the funders’ side of the equation! They really would like to fund everyone, but they can only fund some.
For those who want to know more, ACE and equivalent organisations have plenty of information on their websites. My organisation, Writing West Midlands, regularly runs online workshops to talk through the process of applying for funding and to share advice and guidance. The next of these is in two parts on the evenings of 18th and 25th March 2026, details here.
Jonathan Davidson, Writing West Midlands
About Writing West Midlands
Writing West Midlands evolved from the work of the Birmingham Book Festival, established in 1999.
The organisation is now the literature development agency for the region. We achieved National Portfolio Organisation status from Arts Council England in 2012; an important step which confirmed our strategic role in building the sector’s diversity and resilience.
