Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship Deadline February 15
Photo by Philip Bermingham
The deadline to apply for the Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship in Biography is Saturday, February 15, 2025. The fellowship, endowed by Kitty Kelley, founding member of BIO and long-time advocate for biography and biographers, provides $25,000 to a doctoral student writing a dissertation in English focused on another person’s life or the lives of two or more individuals.
The winner of the scholarship will be announced no later than May 1, 2025. The request for applications is now open. Please visit this link for more information about the award and how to apply. The official entry form can be found here.
Kelley is the bestselling author of multiple biographical works where she has displayed courage and deftness in writing unvarnished accounts of some of the most influential figures in politics, media, and popular culture, including Oprah Winfrey, the Bush Family, the Royal Family, Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, and Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
The Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship in Biography will provide financial support so that a doctoral candidate may devote a year to completing a dissertation in the biography field. A fellow is expected to pursue the dissertation project full-time during the funding period and must be writing a dissertation in English focused upon another person’s life or the lives of two or more individuals. It cannot be fictionalized, nor should the focus be primarily autobiographical. It does not need to cover the entire life of its subject or subjects. Applicants must have completed all coursework, passed all preliminary examinations, and received approval for a dissertation proposal. Students who have already received a dissertation fellowship are not eligible. The fellowship is open to students in all fields and academic departments, provided the dissertation is biographical in its methods and focus.