The New India Foundation (NIF) Book Fellowship, which has been awarded once every two years so far, will move to an annual cycle beginning in 2026.  Applications will now open every year and remain open for approximately three months.

The NIF Book Fellowship offers a substantial monthly stipend, editorial support, mentorship, and access to a community of writers and thinkers.  

According to a communique from NIF, the move to an annual cycle is driven by a desire to expand NIF’s reach and embrace greater thematic and intellectual diversity among its fellows. 

“This move reflects NIF’s ambition to do more for serious nonfiction in India. An annual fellowship will allow NIF to stay present in the minds of potential candidates and respond more nimbly to emerging themes and gaps in public discourse. Writers who narrowly miss selection will no longer have to wait two years to reapply, and a predictable annual window will allow aspiring fellows to plan their research and applications with greater familiarity,” it said. 

The foundation also hopes that a more frequently renewed cohort of fellows will build a richer alumni community, and a steady annual output of supported books will create a more consistent cultural presence for serious nonfiction in India, signalling a long-term institutional commitment to the field. 

“The move to an annual fellowship is a natural next step for NIF. We have always believed that serious nonfiction is essential to how India understands itself, and we want to make that support even more consistent, accessible, and responsive to the writers who are doing this work.” said Niraja Gopal Jayal, governing board member, New India Foundation. 

Srinath Raghavan, another governing board member, added that the sheer volume of interesting applications that NIF receives in each round is indicative of the growing importance of nonfiction writing as a mode of engagement with the enormous transformations undergone by India since independence. 

“An annual cycle of fellowship will allow us to nurture and expand the field as well as enrich its quality,” he said.