The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is the world’s oldest literary charity dedicated to supporting professional writers in financial difficulty. Each year, the RLF distributes over £5 million through grants and a range of education, community, and workplace programmes. If you're a writer in need of financial aid, read on to find out how the RLF can help you.
About the RLF's grants programme
Over the centuries, the RLF has provided both short-term and long-term hardship grants to writers who have sought out support for various reasons, whether that be an unexpected bill or reduced income due to a change in circumstances, sickness, or disability.
What does an RLF grant cover?
The RLF can help cover basic living costs such as rent, utilities, groceries, or additional costs associated with long-term disabilities or health conditions. There are also short-term grants available to cover a particular or unforeseen one-off cost, including repairs to your home or an unexpected bill. Every grant is donated to relieve the applicant's distress, not as a loan or for completing any literary work.
Some of the RLF's recent beneficiaries on receiving a grant
"The grant for me was just brilliant. I'd had life-saving surgery and had some follow-on issues, and it was a really difficult time. And the Royal Literary Fund took away quite a lot of anguish for me." – Jayne Josso
"I did have problems coping in my life and I had really nowhere else to turn. They obviously had a notion that creative people who come upon had times deserve to live in a degree of dignity." – Bill Broady
"Over a twenty-year career, the RLF has bailed me out three times with grants, each time as I was going under, in serious debt, with rent arrears. I don't think my literary career would have survived without this financial aid." – Monique Roffey
"The grant has changed my life very significantly because it's a relief from anxiety." – Fraser Harrison
Interested in applying for an RLF grant?
To be eligible for a grant, you must:
- Hold UK or Irish citizenship OR reside in the UK or Ireland
- Have at least two works professionally published or produced in the UK or Ireland that meet the criteria under Eligibility by Format
- Be the sole author of the work
OR
- Be the dependant of a writer who meets the eligibility criteria above
Find out more about the RLF’s grants programme.
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