On September 29, just a day before the application deadlines, announcements for literary creation grants, including Comic Books and Children’s and Young Adult Literature grants, have been published.
For literary creation grants, with a total fund of 360,000 euros and offering 24 annual grants of 15,000 euros each, projects in poetry, narrative fiction, dramaturgy, theatrical writing, and essay can apply.
The jury for this category will consist of Paula Magalhães, João Dionísio, Afonso Cruz, Isabel Lucas, Golgona Anghel, and José Bragança de Miranda.
In the Comic Books and Children’s and Young Adult Literature category, 18 annual grants will be awarded, with a total fund of 270,000 euros.
The jury for this segment comprises João Ramalho-Santos and Dora Batalim.
The new model of literary creation grants—which was not open last year—was announced earlier this year by Dalila Rodrigues, the previous head of the Culture Department.
At that time, the Ministry of Culture declared that a new edition of the literary creation grant program would launch, offering 24 annual grants of 15,000 euros each, now including essays. Following a letter challenging the exclusion of Comic Books and Children’s Literature, a separate line was introduced for these two categories.
The literary creation grant program was reinstated in 2017 under the leadership of Luís Filipe Castro Mendes after a 15-year hiatus.
In 2024, the general program was not opened; instead, only the literary creation grants under the 50th anniversary commemorations of April 25th were available, granting eight semi-annual scholarships totaling 60,000 euros.
Between 2017 and 2023, supported authors included Nuno Saraiva, Francisco de Sousa Lobo, Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida, Ana Teresa Pereira, Judite Canha Fernandes, Afonso Reis Cabral, Valério Romão, Matilde Campilho, and Andreia Faria, alongside many others like Tiago Schwäbl, Mariana Correia Pinto, and Hugo Gonçalves.
According to the ministry’s accounting, “since 1997, within literary creation grant programs, 26 grants for Comic Books, 15 for Children and Youth, 90 for Narrative Fiction, 40 for Poetry, and 20 for Dramaturgy have been awarded.”
