New Literary Project

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New Literary Project Stepping up for readers, writers, students, you. Partnering with UC Berkeley English. Home of the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, the Jack Hazard Fellowships, and more.

You can find our latest news here: https://linktr.ee/newliteraryproject The New Literary Project invests in students & teachers, readers & authors, and it inspires and equips writers across the generations to write their hearts out. NLP offers writing workshops free of charge for underserved younger writers; celebrates storytellers and storytelling through a major national award to a mid-career author of fiction (the Joyce Carol Oates Prize); and makes possible readings, events, and publication in our annual anthology of Project-connected authors, Simpsonistas. (In fact, and please don’t take this in the wrong way, our literary events make for great parties.) The Project came together in 2016 in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, English Department, the world’s foremost English Department, in the world’s leading public university, and the Lafayette Library and Learning Center. Until April 2021 we called ourselves the Simpson Literary Project, to honor the example set by Sharon Simpson and the late Barclay Simpson, legendary pillars of soulful support for education, the arts, and social justice. Our dear friend Sharon actively continues to engage and inspire us. We have grown. With each successive year we serve more and more students and teachers, readers and writers across the generations in ever-evolving ways. Now, to everything there is a season. It’s a new day, with new challenges, new opportunities, new wrongs to right, new dreams to dream, and hence we have a new name: The New Literary Project.

10/12/2026

What does it feel like to find out you've won the Joyce Carol Oates Prize? Hear Erika Krouse react to being named the 2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winner.

Celebrate with Erika at Homecoming, Sunday, Nov 1 at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, with dinner, music, and community speakers.

Link in bio.

10/09/2026

Let's tell the stories of our lives.

Erika Krouse, our 2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winner, on what this honor means to her and on what NewLit makes possible for writers, readers, and young people. We're grateful right back, Erika.

Celebrate with us at Rising Roadshow, Oct 26 – Nov 1: Via del NewLit benefit dinner in Berkeley, a free afternoon with Erika at Orinda Books, and Homecoming at Saint Mary's College in Moraga. Details and tickets at newliteraryproject.org/risingroadshow.

10/07/2026

Let's tell the stories of our lives.

Hear from Erika Krouse, our 2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winner, on why stories matter right now. NewLit is the antidote for despair. Come find out why. Join us Oct 26 – Nov 1. Homecoming tickets are available now at newliteraryproject.org/risingroadshow.

See https://www.newliteraryproject.org/risingroadshow

Who will be the next Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winner? Submissions Open for the 2027 JCO Prize. Pictured and listed here a...
10/01/2026

Who will be the next Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winner? Submissions Open for the 2027 JCO Prize. Pictured and listed here are the current 2026 JCO Prize Winner Erika Krouse and the ten previous winners:

2026 Erika Krouse, Save Me, Stranger (Flatiron)
2025 Jennine Capó Crucet, Say Hello to My Little Friend (Simon & Schuster)
2025 W***y Vlautin, The Horse (HarperCollins)
2024 Ben Fountain, Devil Makes Three (Flatiron)
2023 Manuel Muñoz, The Consequences (Graywolf Press)
2022 Lauren Groff, Matrix (Riverhead)
2021 Danielle Evans, The Office of Historical Corrections (Riverhead)
2020 Daniel Mason, The Winter Soldier (Little, Brown)
2019 Laila Lalami, The Other Americans (Pantheon)
2018 Anthony Marra, The Tsar of Love and Techno (Hogarth)
2017 T. Geronimo Johnson, Welcome to Braggsville (HarperCollins)

See our website for General Submission Process & Guidelines for the 2027 Joyce Carol Oates Prize.

NewLit '26. RISING ROADSHOW. Meet our 2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winner: Erika Krouse. Her story collection Save Me, S...
09/10/2026

NewLit '26. RISING ROADSHOW. Meet our 2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize Winner: Erika Krouse. Her story collection Save Me, Stranger earned her this year's honor — national recognition for a mid-career author whose work moves people. She'll be with us all week, Oct 26 – Nov 1. Learn more about Rising Roadshow — Homecoming ticket info available now. Let's tell the stories of our lives. More info at: https://www.newliteraryproject.org/risingroadshow

NewLit '26. RISING ROADSHOW  -  FOR STUDENTS. FOR TEACHERS. FOR READERS. FOR WRITERS. FOR BELIEVERS. Mark your calendars...
08/13/2026

NewLit '26. RISING ROADSHOW - FOR STUDENTS. FOR TEACHERS. FOR READERS. FOR WRITERS. FOR BELIEVERS.
Mark your calendars: Oct 26 – Nov 1. NewLit is hitting the road (well, the East Bay) with a benefit dinner, a bookstore afternoon, and Homecoming — our unforgettable finale night.

Every year, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize honors a mid-career author doing extraordinary work. This year, that's Erika Krouse. Join us as NewLit celebrates her across Rising Roadshow. Ticket info is coming soon. For now: save the week. Let's tell the stories of our lives.

Summer is here and there's no better time to kick back and read, read, read. At NewLit, our summer reading lists tend to...
07/13/2026

Summer is here and there's no better time to kick back and read, read, read. At NewLit, our summer reading lists tend to be long — and we're always curious:
What's on your summer reading list?

ONE OF LITHUB'S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2026 • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER BY THE L.A. TIMES & KIRKUS"A comic masterpi...
06/15/2026

ONE OF LITHUB'S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2026 • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER BY THE L.A. TIMES & KIRKUS

"A comic masterpiece. The current administration is finally getting the book it deserves."—Kirkus (Starred Review)

Ben was gracious enough to answer a few questions for us. Read on.

We caught up with NewLit Board Member Ben Fountain , author of the newly released Rasputin Swims the Potomac , and he agreed to do an exclusive mini-interview with NewLit. Read on. Q: This is a highly entertaining, energetic and propulsive narrative. What were the biggest unknowns for yo

Da-na-na-na. They say it's our birthday. Happy Birthday to us. NewLit turns 11 today. NewLit was founded on June 10, 201...
06/10/2026

Da-na-na-na. They say it's our birthday. Happy Birthday to us. NewLit turns 11 today. NewLit was founded on June 10, 2015. Read all about our journey on our blog today. See link.

Eleven years ago, NewLit started as just a dream in the mind of our founder Joe Di Prisco. He had a few ideas and the simple hope of doing good work for the literary arts and arts education, making space where creative writing and free expression would bring people together. Like all non-profits, w

On May 8th, we gathered to celebrate our 2026 teaching fellows. This year, NewLit had five Bonetti-Bell fellows from  an...
06/03/2026

On May 8th, we gathered to celebrate our 2026 teaching fellows. This year, NewLit had five Bonetti-Bell fellows from and six Iris Starn Fellows from the MFA in Creative Writing Department

We gathered for a happy hour at the home of NewLIt board member James Bell with our fellows along with partners and friends. The fellows reflected on their experience teaching creative writing in classrooms around the Bay Area to students who otherwise might not have had exposure to writing poetry, fiction, and non-fiction before.

See link in on our website for some fun photos and video from the event.
https://www.newliteraryproject.org/whats-new/thats-a-wrap-thanks-to-our-2026-bonetti-bell-and-iris-starn-fellows

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