Manuscript Workshops

The Manuscript Workshop program provides a platform, structure, and financial support for authors to host up to two external subject matter experts for generative feedback on their long-form projects. Workshops are facilitated by the Center Director and are designed to allow the author and reviewers to engage in active dialogue about the work, provide timely, constructive and informed criticism on the manuscript, and consider strategies for the work’s improvement, helping to transform already excellent projects into polished and engaging published works. 

This program is new for AY26–27. We anticipate supporting 3–4 workshops each year. Applicants should apply 3–5 months before their desired workshop date. Workshops will be held during fall and spring semesters only. 

Applications for Manuscript Workshops are accepted on a rolling basis.

Applications are limited to tenured or tenure-track faculty with primary appointments in either a Taft member unit or the College of Arts & Sciences with a terminal degree in a Taft member field. Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, faculty in other colleges, and non-tenure track faculty (part-time, educator, research, visiting, and adjunct) are ineligible for this program, but may participate in selected manuscript workshops by invitation of the conveneor.

Awards of up to $5,000 may be used to cover honoraria, travel, and lodging for subject experts, as well as hosting support. 

Applicants should have completed roughly 75% of the manuscript at the time of application. The program is open to scholarly monographs, digital projects, and other long-form works. While multi-authored projects will be considered, the budget for this program is intended to host 2 external experts, not existing collaborators or co-authors. 

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis from July 15–June 15. Applicants should apply 3–5 months before their desired workshop date. Workshops will be held during fall and spring semesters only. 

To apply, send the following materials as a single PDF to taft@uc.edu: 

1. CV
2. Proposal (less than 2,000 words) that speaks to the significance and current status of the work, publication plans, and desired interlocutors: 
   1. Brief description of the project, its significance to your field(s), and an annotated table of contents that shows the argument's trajectory and how each chapter contributes to it;
   2. Current status of the work, identifying the number of proposed and completed (or percentage completed) chapters, or other relevant information on the project’s proximity to completion;
   3. Publication/distribution/performance plans, indicating whether the work is under contract, publishers who have expressed interest, and/or publishers the applicant feels would be ideal for the project, and any supplementary or future plans you may have for the work;
   4. Ranked list of up to 4 potential reviewers/invitees/interlocutors, including their emails, titles, locations, and your relationship to them. Briefly explain why each person’s feedback is important to the project, providing links to their research profiles, where possible.
   5. Short narrative explaining how and why this opportunity is appropriate for the current state of the manuscript's development and identifying any UC faculty, research staff, and/or graduate students whose feedback would enrich the discussion. 

• Publications and creative work generated with the help of Taft grants should acknowledge the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center.