In keeping with its mission and longstanding commitment to grow diversity in the ranks of published authors, the MIT Press has announced the launch of the Grant Program for Diverse Voices. The initiative will expand funding for new work by authors whose voices have been excluded and chronically underrepresented across the arts, humanities, and sciences. The grant program will be supported by the press’s existing Fund for Diverse Voices.
The MIT Press welcomes applications from new or returning authors from diverse backgrounds. Candidates who have significant personal experience or engagement with communities that are underrepresented in scholarly publishing are strongly encouraged to apply. Grants may support a variety of needs, including research travel, copyright permission fees, parental/family care, developmental editing, and any other costs associated with the research and writing process. Grantees agree to give MITP the right of first refusal on book projects.
Diverse Voices grant applications are accepted on a rolling basis and will be evaluated twice a year, in the spring and the fall. Prospective and current authors interested in applying for a grant should contact the MIT Press acquisitions editor in the field in which the author publishes. (A list of MIT Press editors and publishing fields is available online.)
Grant winners are selected by the Grant Program for Diverse Voices Committee. The inaugural committee is composed of Amy Brand, director and publisher at the MIT Press; Gabriela Bueno Gibbs, assistant acquisitions editor; Rockelle Henderson, president and CEO of Rock Inked; Victoria Hindley, acquisitions editor at the MIT Press; Gita Manaktala, editorial director, Robert Prior, executive editor; Noah Springer, associate acquisitions editor; and Kate Silverman Wilson, community and resource development associate.
“There is much work to be done to enhance diversity and inclusion at university presses,” says Brand. “The MIT Press Grant Program for Diverse Voices is an important step in our ongoing commitment to amplify marginalized voices and help change the culture of academic publishing.”
The new grant program is supported by the Press’s Fund for Diverse Voices, a gift fund that helps grow the publication of new books by underrepresented groups at the MIT Press.
One of the first programs of its kind at an academic press, the Fund for Diverse Voices also enables the MIT Press to offer competitive advances to talented authors, cover the cost of high-quality production features, hire developmental editors, and ensure that these works reach the widest readership possible.
