Georgia Writers’ John Lewis Writing Grants are inspired by the late civil rights icon and his more than three decades of service as Georgia’s 5th District representative. The John Lewis Writing Grants will be awarded annually in the categories of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The purpose of the grants is to elevate, encourage, and inspire the voices of Black writers in Georgia.

Lewis' work includes Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement, the March series, and Run: Book One. Lewis received the Georgia Author of the Year Award for Memoir in 2017 for March: Book Three.

The deadline for our John Lewis Writing Grant for 2023 has passed. Check back later for our 2024 date.

  • Winners in each genre will receive:

    —A grant of $500 to present a workshop or reading at a selected Georgia venue

    —A scholarship to the next annual Red Clay Writers Conference

  • Applicants must be 18 years of age and emerging writers who are Black or African-American residents of Georgia for at least one year, or full-time students at a Georgia college or university at the time of application and on the date of the award. Applicants are ineligible if they have published more than one traditionally published book. Promising writers without publication will be considered. Writers who are eligible may apply annually but may only win a grant once. There is no submission fee to enter. Applications will be reviewed anonymously. Applicants are ineligible if they are of relations to any of the Georgia Writers staff or board of directors.

  • Writers may apply in only one genre and must submit the following:

    —A completed grant application

    —An essay of at least 500 words as a concise description of your work and goals as a writer. Please tell us what inspires or challenges your writing career.

    —No more than a ten-page writing sample of a published or unpublished piece in the genre in which you are applying--fiction, non-fiction, or poetry.If submitting poetry, one poem per page please.

  • Ra’Niqua Lee won with her fiction story excerpt titled “Frenzied, Desperate Birds,” a novel she begin to write for her MFA thesis.

    George Chidi won the John Lewis Grant for his nonfiction submission titled “A Kid Named Twin.”

    Jae Nichelle won the John Lewis Grant for her poetry works titled: “This Was Written,” “Maybe: God,” “A Book Reminds Me I’ve Known Joy,” “Corn,” “I am Angry, and I Will Not Go Back to Work,” “Revelations,” “Tangible Heaven,” “When the Last Time You Went to Church,” and “Golden Shovel, Frank Ocean’s Bad Religion.”

  • Michaeljulius Y. Idani won in the Fiction category.

    Josina Guess won in the Non-fiction category.

    Samantha Williams won in the poetry section.

2023 Recipients

  • Fiction

    Netta Fei is a practicing writer fascinated both by the feminine vim—old and new, wise and foolish, touched by browness, heroinism, and romance—and where bold she/her characters take her. Her writing journey began as a reporter for her high school newspaper followed by a bachelor of arts degree in Journalism from the University of Georgia. She honed her skill in the corporate arena where she created content as a features reporter, corporate marketer, and ghostwriter. Also with a masters of business administration degree from UGA, Netta started her own marketing consulting business to help organizations develop and communicate their brand messages in ways that support and enable their business goals. Netta slowly entered into the fiction writing cocoon, drawing from her own experiences towards now becoming a thriving butterfly whose stories liberate readers to live their truths.

    Burnetta “Netta Fei” Shannon is an Atlanta-based writer of fiction. Her book “Betrothed,” which was submitted for her John Lewis Grant application, is scheduled to be released in 2024.

  • Non-Fiction

    Kristie Robin Johnson is an award-winning essayist, memoirist, and poet from Augusta, GA. Her writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received other awards and recognition including the 2020 Porter Fleming Prize for Nonfiction and the 2021 Page Prize for Flash Nonfiction. Kristie’s work has been published in numerous literary magazines, journals, and anthologies. Her first book, High Cotton, was released in 2020 by Raised Voice Press and was recognized as the finalist in the memoir category for 2021 Georgia Author of the Year.

  • Poetry

    Cocoa M. Williams received her PhD in African American Literary and Cultural Studies with a minor concentration in American Modernism and Black Diasporic Modernisms at Florida State University. Her research interests include African American women’s literature, black modernity, modern African American art, black digital humanities, museum studies, black film studies, and folklore. Her dissertation project explores the impact of museum culture on African American arts and letters. She holds a B.A. in English (2005) and a B.A. in Philosophy (2005) from Valdosta State University, and she completed an M.A. in English at Clemson University in 2007. Cocoa Williams is the recipient of the J. Russell Reaver Award for Outstanding Dissertation in American Literature or Folklore, McKnight Dissertation Fellowship, P.E.O. Scholar Award, and the Ruth Yost Memorial Scholarship, among others. Dr. Williams is also a published poet. Her poetry has been published in Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose, Ninth Letter, College Language Association Journal and december magazine. She is a Pushcart Prize finalist, Tennessee Williams Prize finalist, and a Writer of Note for the DeGroot Courage to Write grant, among other awards.