2027 Cave Canem Fellowship Application
Ends on
Submissions received after Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET will not be accepted.
About the Cave Canem Fellowship
Cave Canem supports the work of Black poets through a suite of core programs, namely an annual retreat consisting of intensive poetry workshops and readings, hosted at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.
The retreat offers an unparalleled opportunity for Cave Canem Fellows to study with esteemed faculty and to join an expansive community of peers. Fellows write from a range of poetic traditions: blues; confessional; experimental; dramatic; lyric; narrative; performance; political; etc.
Due to our generous community of institutional funders and individual donors, there is no submission fee for the Fellowship application, and the retreat is free to all Fellows.
Application Guidelines
Applicants must submit a Cover Letter and a writing sample via Submittable. Attachments that do not follow these guidelines will be disqualified:
- A PDF of six (6) pages of poems, written in English
- The poet's name should not be included on any page of the poetry attachment.
- Page breaks should be used to separate poems. Each poem should start on a new page and its title formatted in bold.
- The document should be paginated. Place page numbers in the footers of each page (Example: Page 2 of 6)
- Legible, 12-point font, serif should be used.
- One application per candidate.
For any questions on formatting or other queries, please reach out to our Programs team at programs@ccpoets.org.
Considerations & Exclusions
Applicants must confirm that they will be 21 years or older at the time of the 2027 Cave Canem Retreat, which will take place June 6-13, 2027.
The Cave Canem Fellowship includes:
- Invitation to the Annual Retreat
- Access to Fellows & Faculty Fund
- Access to exclusive scholarships for select writing residences
- Archival training
- Inclusion in public programming (readings, panels, multi-genre collaborations, etc.)
- Subscription to a bimonthly Cave Canem resource containing community news and exclusive offers