Deadline: 27-February-2026
The Ontario Arts Council is accepting applications for its Recommender Grants Program to supports Ontario writers in the creation of new work and creates and strengthens connections between Ontario writers, publishers, and literary organizations.
The program invites writers to apply through Nova, OAC’s online grant system, to selected publishers and organizations acting as recommenders. It offers grants between $1,500 and $5,000.
Writers can submit up to ten applications per program year and may receive funding from multiple recommenders. However, due to high demand and limited resources, grants may be smaller than the requested amount. Multiple grants received in one program year count as a single grant toward the annual three-grant limit.
Grants fund time and activities needed to begin or continue new literary projects, covering artist fees and research expenses. The program supports various literary forms, including chapbooks, feature articles, and full-length books.
However, it does not fund writing for film, radio, theatre, or digital media, editorial or publication costs, or works in languages other than English, which are supported under other specific OAC programs.
Eligible genres include comics and graphic novels, fiction, children’s illustrated writing, literary non-fiction, poetry, and young adult literature.
Ineligible genres encompass commissioned adaptations, scripts for performance media, academic or educational materials, ghostwritten works, self-help or instructional books, and projects with minimal written content.
Eligible applicants must be Ontario residents with a professional publishing history, meeting at least one of several criteria such as having one traditionally published book, three paid published works in recognized outlets, three years of professional comics presentation, or two recent production writing credits in non-text media.
Ineligible applicants include organizations, ad-hoc groups, collectives, non-professional writers, and those with conflicts of interest with a recommender. Work published in academic, self-published, or employment-related contexts (unless professional journalism) cannot be used to establish eligibility.
Applicants must ensure that their project activities do not conclude before receiving results, which may take up to six weeks after the closing date. Projects must be completed within two years of receiving the grant, though work on the manuscript may continue beyond this period. Recipients are required to submit a final report via Nova, outlining project outcomes and evidence of OAC recognition.
Applications must be submitted through Nova and include project details, responses to application questions, the name of the recommender, up to ten pages of literary samples, and a résumé of up to three pages summarizing relevant literary work. Recommenders, who are authorized organizations, assess submissions and recommend grants to OAC, which issues the final payments.
Recommender grants are direct grants from OAC and cannot replace payments, royalties, or fees from publishers. The grants remain the artist’s property, and there is no obligation for publication or reciprocal commitments between the recommender and the writer.
Applicants with conflicts of interest—such as employees, board members, or immediate family members associated with recommenders—are ineligible to apply to those organizations.
For more information, visit Ontario Arts Council.
