Grants for Radical Writers and Translators

(Please note: the IAS took a break from giving grants in 2018 in order to engage in some organizational reflection and restructuring. We are committed to supporting our movements and making the most effective interventions possible. Stay tuned for updates! In the meantime, contact the Perspectives editorial collective at perspectivesonanarchisttheory@gmail.com for editorial or publishing assistance, or look around our website for other forms of support.)

Since the inception of the Institute for Anarchist Studies in 1996, the grant program has been a central project. By awarding grants to radical writers and translators around the world — many of whom work without the support of academic institutions, and are connected in important ways to the movements about which and for which they write — the IAS has tried to support the development of the theoretical tools necessary for critiquing the systems of domination in which we are enmeshed as well as proliferating resistances and alternatives to these systems in order to maximize freedom, justice, and dignity.

The IAS usually grants $2,000 annually to writers and translators treating themes of significance to the development of contemporary anarchist theory and practice. Approximately two to four projects are awarded between $250 and $1,000 in our yearly funding round. The IAS also provides editorial assistance to the grant recipients, who generally commit to completing their projects in the six months following their award. Moreover, the IAS publishes many of the finished essays in its print and/or online journal Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, or in some cases, as part of its Anarchist Interventions book series, among other publishing projects.

Funding Priorities
The IAS encourages theoretical work that develops an antiauthoritarian critique of dominant social structures, and the exclusion and marginalization they yield. In addition, the IAS supports scholarship that nurtures the ideal of a democratic, cooperative, and ecological society, and aids in the creation of a politics to realize that vision. The IAS also funds historical works insofar as they help challenge the historical consciousness prevailing in our society and renew the exploration of suppressed possibilities of social development.

The IAS awards grants to writers and translators who embrace the broad antiauthoritarian and utopian views characteristic of the anarchist tradition (whether or not they describe themselves as anarchists), and whose work connects to the larger project of social transformation and the creation of a public intellectual culture. Clear financial need on the part of applicants is a key consideration, along with the grant applicant’s writing skills, ability to complete their essay, political and intellectual experiences, and publishing plans.

The IAS prioritizes work from people who are reflecting on struggles and organizing in which they participate. We welcome applications from people who do not think of themselves as writers and who are not rooted in university contexts. We especially encourage women, queer people, people of color, working-class people, people with disabilities, grassroots activists, and others often excluded from scholarly life to apply.

For more information, visit our FAQs page, or contact us directly.