Fellowship Dates: July 11, 18, and 25, 2026

Submission Fee: $40  

What's The Watering Hole Manuscript Coaching Fellowship? 

Launched in 2018, our Manuscript Coaching Fellowship gives up to eight unpublished poets of color an opportunity to polish their manuscripts-in-progress with world-class and broadly published writers. Selected poets for the 2026 Manuscript Coaching Fellowship will focus on the advanced aspects of manuscript preparation in community with each other and under the guidance of the Manuscript Coach. The Fellowship offers three virtual intensives, peer review feedback on manuscripts of 35 to 45 pages, and one individual coaching session with the Manuscript coach. 

Past facilitators have included Pulitzer Prize winners Jericho Brown and Tyehimba Jess, LA Times Book Prize winner Remica Bingham-Risher, and critically acclaimed poets Tara Betts and Franny Choi. 

Applicants must be either a TWH Fellow or Graduate Fellow.
 

Location: Virtual

Manuscript Coach:  TBA

This program includes 

• Daily virtual classes focused on advanced aspects of manuscript preparation.
• Peer Review feedback on a 30 to 45-page manuscript
• An individual coaching session with the Manuscript Coach 

What's the Applications Process? Submission Components:  

1. A Query Letter
2. A Manuscript of 30 - 45 pages of poetry here on Submittable. 

If you need help with the basic query letter format, click here for a sample query letter. Write the letter addressed to a press that you'd eventually want to publish with. 

A Manuscript consists of a Title Page, a table of Contents, an acknowledgment Page (for previously published poems), and a Sample Manuscript (30 - 45 pages). A poem may be multiple pages, but no more than one poem per page is permitted. 

Notes: 

***We ask for a query letter because once you have one written, you can use it to apply for lots of manuscript publishing opportunities across the industry. Not just for TWH. It's just a great tool to have in your toolbox. Writing it to your ideal press carries some energetic weight, too. You might want to pin it to your wall, so that you can see it every day.

Eligibility: 

Applicants must be a TWH Fellow or a TWH Graduate Fellow.

• Applicants cannot have a full-length collection either published or under contract for publication.
• Poetry must be original, not translations. AI-generated and AI-assisted work is not eligible.  

What's the Review Process? 

Applications are reviewed and accepted by The Watering Hole graduate fellows who have published at least one book. They have a vested interest in continuing to build TWH Tribe with a wide variety of talents, backgrounds, and aesthetics.  

What if my Application is Accepted? 

•  Acceptance letters will be emailed by March 1, 2026. 
• Turn in your final manuscript of 35 to 45 pages by March 15, 2026.
• A deposit of 50% due May 1, 2026. 
• The registration fee must be paid in full by June 1, 2026. 
• Each fellow reviews five of their peers’ manuscripts from June 1 to July 1.
• July 11, 18, and 25: Fellows meet for the Manuscript Coaching Fellowship and turn in their peer reviews.  

When the time comes, The Watering Hole will send out information about online payment options and the welcome packet upon acceptance.

 Additional Information  

• The Watering Hole sponsors between 50% and 75% (depending on the year) of every fellow's fees. Your portion of this year's registration fee is $299.

 Refunds to be requested by June 15th
 Typical schedule TBA

TWH is interested in conversations that poets are not having in public and opening that discourse to the wider community. We are looking to publish traditional, poetic, or experimental essays that are reflective, factual, and dynamic. Submissions should speak to issues that affect poets, their lives, the communities they live in, or the larger project of poetry. 

Selections will be published on TWH’s website, distributed to our digital mailing list, and promoted on social media and YouTube. An editorial committee of TWH Fellows and Graduate Fellows will select essays.

Essays must be previously unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are allowed; however, please withdraw your submission if it is picked up elsewhere. While you can submit multiple essays for consideration, each essay must address a single prompt.

Prompts: 

1. Think of the poetry communities you operate in. Some things work well, while others work terribly. What creates and maintains a healthy poetry community? How do we unlock that code and share it with others?
2. For poets who are not in academia or full-time artists, but maintain active and dynamic poetry practices, how are you sustaining yourself financially, and what does your poetic practice look like?
3. What do you want poets to be thinking about?
4. Outside of your literary impact by way of readings, publication, and accolades, how are your poetic practices tied directly to the lives of people in your communities? 

Guidelines: 

• Please submit 500 - 1000-word essays. Traditional, poetic, or experimental essays will be considered.
• In a time of alternative facts, we deeply value the writers who do their own fact-checking.
• Preference will be given to TWH graduate fellows and fellows.

Deadline: December 31, 2025

Contributor Compensation: $100.00

Contributor Promotional Commitment:

  Selected writers are expected to record two vertical videos for digital promotion: 1) reading an excerpt from their essay and 2) discussing their essay’s thesis.

Response Time:

  All writers will be contacted on or before March 1, 2026.