RSL Hawthornden Literature Matters Grants
Annual grants of £5,000 to £30,000 each year made to promote literature in communities across the UK.
About the Grants
The RSL Hawthornden Literature Matters Grants support individuals and organisations who are promoting literature in communities across the UK. The grants, totalling £1 million, will be distributed over five years through annual funding rounds of £200,000. Grants are available for between £5k and £30k. The grants are generously supported by Hawthornden Foundation.
There are two types of grants. ‘Operating Grants’, for organisations, support the delivery or expansion of established programmes or ongoing work. ‘Innovation Grants’, for organisations and individuals, support new, experimental or one-off projects designed to test new approaches. The grants, launched in the National Year of Reading, aim to:
- Encourage engagement with literature and reading
- Engage people who do not currently read for pleasure, or who read infrequently.
- Contribute to the National Year of Reading’s stated aim to create lasting change in reading habits across the UK
- For innovation grants: Enable new and innovative activity that would not otherwise be possible without funding. This can include activities that are innovative for a particular organisation or area, even if they have previously been delivered elsewhere.
How to Apply
Applications for 2026 are now closed. The first cohort of successful applicants will be announced in October 2026. Applications will reopen for the second year in Spring 2027.
Organisations who apply must be UK-based and primarily focused on literature, reading or writing. This may include (but is not limited to): registered charities; Community Interest Companies (CICs); Arts organisations and collectives; Literary festivals; independent publishers; and not-for-profit presses. Individuals who apply must be writers, freelancers or literary practitioners able to demonstrate relevant experience and that they have the partnerships in place to deliver the literary project for which support is sought.
Literature organisations are eligible for both operating and innovation grants, and writers and freelancers are eligible for innovation grants. This programme will not be able to provide long-term funding, so projects must either be able to generate any necessary income or resources going forward or must be a one-off activity which can still make a meaningful difference to reading habits.
Applications will be assessed on their individual strengths using the advertised criteria. Final decisions may also take into account the importance of supporting a balanced portfolio of projects. This may include consideration of:
- Geographic spread across the UK
- Organisational diversity across the literary sector
- A range of approaches to engaging new readers
Potential applicants should review the assessment criteria and eligibility criteria. Applications must be made through the online form below. To help with planning and accessibility, the application questions are available for viewing before you fill out the online form.
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Become a Member
Our Members are champions of literature. Their support makes our engagement work in schools and prisons possible and they enable us to celebrate literature in all its wonderful diversity. As a thank you, we give them all the joys of a literary festival and book club rolled into one, all year round.