The winners of the 2023 Internship Grant Awards have been announced! Please see the full list of 2023 Grantees below.
The Internship Grant Program awards supplemental grants to applicants from diverse backgrounds to help further their goals of pursuing a career in children’s and adult publishing.
Program Overview
The high cost of living in New York City and other major publishing hubs bars many marginalized students from accepting the opportunity to intern in publishing—a vital entry point to the industry. Since this program’s inception, WNDB has supported over 100 grantees in their summer internships. While many of our most recent 2022 cohort are still completing their studies, an incredible 76 percent of our grantees have gone on to work in the industry (with many already acquiring books of their own).
In 2023 we will award a minimum of 24 grants of $3,000 to expand WNDB efforts to diversify the publishing industry — currently 12 grants for a children's publishing focus and 12 grants for an adult publishing focus. Internship positions must take place between June 1st and August 31st, 2023. In addition to the grant award, grantees are expected to attend various events throughout the summer including an introductory Internship Grant Bootcamp, various professional development and networking events, publishing panels, organized partner mentor/mentee meetings, and an exit interview/testimonial of the program.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the publishing industry, WNDB adapted the Internship Grant Program to better serve applicants and our publishing partners. For Summer 2023, remote positions are permitted.
How To Apply
Applications for the 2023 Internship Grant Season are NOW CLOSED. Grant awards have been announced, and you can find the full list of grantees below!
Click below to visit the application page and learn more about applying for this year's grant.
Industry Partners for the 2023 Season
Children's Publishers
- Astra Publishing House
- Barefoot Books
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Candlewick Press
- Charlesbridge
- Chronicle Books
- Fabled Films Press
- Hachette Book Group
- Lee & Low Books
- Lerner Publishing
- Macmillan
- North Star Editions
- Simon & Schuster
- Teacher Created Materials Publishing
Children's Literary Agencies
- Andrea Brown Literary Agency
- Bookends Literary Agency
- InkWell Management Literary Agency
Adult Publishers
- Beacon Press
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Chronicle Books
- Hachette Book Group
- Macmillan
- Simon & Schuster
Adult Literary Agencies
- Bookends Literary Agency
- InkWell Management Literary Agency
Alumnx
Internship Grant Alumnx Cohorts by Year
CHILDREN'S GRANTEES
- Olivia Blackmer — Candlewick Press
- Emilio Cabral — Simon and Schuster
- Tamara Grace Davis — Barefoot Books
- Nathanie Doralus — Simon and Schuster
- Jenna German — Barefoot Books
- Elizabeth Li — Chronicle Books
- Sophia Malak — Andrea Brown Literary Agency
- Viviana Morales — Penguin Random House
- Jennifer Pineda — Bloomsbury Publishing
- Stephanie Ulloa Sahagun — Hachette Book Group
- Stacey Watson — Lee & Low Books
- Valeyn Watson — Barefoot Books
ADULT GRANTEES
- Lauren Abesames — BookEnds Literary Agency
- Ilse Alva — Hachette Book Group
- Gaang Choi — Hachette Book Group
- Janay Draughn — Simon & Schuster
- Sofia Echeverry — Simon and Schuster
- Katherine Holt — Macmillan
- Julianna Kim — Macmillan
- Stella Kim — Chronicle Books
- Zoe Lafontant — InkWell Management Literary Agency
- Aaditya Rakheja — Hachette Book Group
- Cindy Tran — Simon & Schuster
- Yating Wang Simon & Schuster
CHILDREN'S GRANTEES
- Graciela Batista — Hachette Book Group
- Sasha Campbell — HarperCollins
- Sophia Chunn — Macmillan
- Danielle Emerson — Simon & Schuster
- Tatiana Guel — Barefoot Books
- April Li — Macmillan
- Kathryn Li — Barefoot Books
- Bex Livermore — Andrea Brown Literary Agency
- José Oscar López — Levine Querido
- Briana Mangum — Hachette Book Group
- Ma Karenina Cristina Francesca Montoya — Hachette Book Group
- Gabrielle Rodriguez Gonzalez — Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency
- Yoon Sung — Simon & Schuster
- Keng Xiong — North Star Editions
ADULT GRANTEES
- Yasmine Abdeldayem — Hachette Book Group
- Wynne Au-Yeung — Chronicle Books
- Michelle Capone — Simon & Schuster
- Iliyah Coles — HarperCollins
- Memphis Cutchlow — Hachette Book Group
- Nasira Watts — HarperCollins
- Viviann Do — HarperCollins
- Lindsay Ito — Macmillan
- Margaux Kanamori — Hachette Book Group
- Sofia Kwon — Macmillan
- Lindsay Wang — Beacon Press
CHILDREN'S GRANTEES
- Alex Aceves — Simon & Schuster
- Sara Canelon — Andrea Brown Literary Agency
- Yong Yong Chen — Penguin Random House
- Jin Soo Chun — Macmillan
- Perla Gil — Penguin Random House
- Tiffany Liu — Penguin Random House
- Tereza Lopez — Candlewick Press
- Paktra Lynch — Candlewick Press
- Kelsey Maldonado — North Star Editions
- Naira Mirza — Macmillan
- Denzel Nim-Dixon — Charlesbridge
- AZ Nowell — Candlewick Press
- Joo Hee Park — Levine Querido
- Zora Pruitt — Macmillan
- Michelle Rajan — BookEnds Literary Agency
- Jean Li Spencer — Penguin Random House
- El Wilson — INCLUDAS Publishing
- Ami Wong — Hachette Book Group (LBYR)
- Karen Yao — Salky Literary Mgt / Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency
ADULT GRANTEES
- Camara Aaron — HarperCollins (Avon)
- Adaylin Alvarez — Hachette Book Group (GCP)
- Sasha Charlemagne — Hachette Book Group (GCP)
- Jasmine Cui — HarperCollins
- Uma Dwivedi — Salky Literary Mgt / Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency
- Alisa Gao — Simon & Schuster
- Autumn Oliver — Macmillan
- Sousan Rawwagah — Penguin Random House
- Ambriah Underwood — Beacon Press
- Alecsander Zapata — InkWell Management Literary Agency
CHILDREN'S GRANTEES
- Guadalupe Calderon — Andrea Brown Literary Agency
- Jiton Davidson — Serendipity Literary Agency
- Kayah Hodge — Simon & Schuster
- Logan Hoffman-Smith — Salky Literary Management
- Allegra Martschenko — Levine Querido
- Madelyn McZeal — Levine Querido
- Taylor Nakatsuka — Salky Literary Management
- Nadine Pinede — Serendipity Literary Agency
- Umaima Saleem — BookEnds Literary Agency
- Irene Vázquez — Levine Querido
CHILDREN'S GRANTEES
- Savannah Bowen — Serendipity Literary Agency
- Analia Cabello — Candlewick Press
- Tiana Coven — Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency
- Leigh Higgins — Scholastic
- Kristen Joseph — Lee & Low Books
- Frankie Knuckles — Candlewick Press
- Mikayla Lawrence — HarperCollins
- Samantha Leong — Simon & Schuster
- Shanese Mullins — Hachette Book Group: Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers
- Connor O'Brien — Writers House
- Kilson Roque — Simon & Schuster
CHILDREN'S GRANTEES
- Shadin Al-Dossari — Candlewick Press
- Aaliyah Barnes — Hachette Book Group: Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers
- Bidisha Bhattacharya — Lee & Low Books
- Natali Cavanagh — Hachette Book Group: Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers
- Ruqayyah Daud — Simon & Schuster
- Michaela Glover — Candlewick Press
- Elliane Mellet — Simon & Schuster
- Jasmine Perry — Scholastic, Arthur A. Levine Books
CHILDREN'S GRANTEES
- Rosie Ahmed — Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency
- Olivia Funderburg — HarperCollins
- Natassja Haught — Writers House
- Elizabeth Lee — Simon & Schuster
- Santiago Montoya — Lee & Low Books
- Mercedes Padro — HarperCollins
- Tanu Srivastava — Penguin Random House, Puffin
- Parrish Turner — Hachette Book Group: Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers
- Rohini Verma — Simon & Schuster
CHILDREN'S GRANTEES
- Manny Blasco — HarperCollins
- Jocquelle Caiby — Serendipity Literary Agency
- Pia Ceres — Lee & Low Books
- Rae Chang — Donald Maass Literary Agency
- Talia Chaves — HarperCollins
- Sophie Erb — Macmillan
- Jessica Harold — Nancy Gallt Literary Agency
- Alexandra Hightower — Writers House
- Maya Marlette — Scholastic
- Rafiatou Ouro Aguy — Simon & Schuster
- Erin Siu — Macmillan
Internship Grant & Alumnx News
Program Guidelines
Grantee applicants are required to:
- Identify as coming from a diverse background as noted in the WNDB Definition of Diversity.
- Be a United States citizen or a permanent resident and must be residing within the United States. Unfortunately, we are not accepting international applicants at this time.
- Have received a paid internship offer from a participating WNDB partner publisher or literary agency (please see current list above). Internship positions must be at least half-time (17 hrs/week) and pay a minimum wage as required in the state of employment. More specifically, a remote intern, as well as an on-site intern, must be paid at least the minimum hourly wage in the state in which the publisher or agency is located.
- Children’s Internship Program: For publishers, the internship must be exclusively in a children’s division. For literary agencies, the internship must have a focus on children’s publishing (spending at least 50% of the time on children’s books).
- Adult Internship Program: For both publishers and literary agencies, the internship must have a focus on adult publishing (spending at least 100% of the time on adult books).
- Attend events throughout the summer, including an introductory Internship Grant Bootcamp, as well as additional professional development and networking events, publishing panels, organized partner mentor/mentee meetings, and an exit interview/testimonial of the program.
Please Note: Under Executive Order 13224, all 501(c)(3) organizations must confirm that grant recipients are not affiliated with federally identified terrorist groups. To comply, if awarded a grant, we must compile any of your former legal names that have been registered with the United States government. We are aware that we are asking for potentially sensitive information, and we sincerely apologize for this intrusion. WNDB will keep this information in the utmost confidence and will never use any former name(s) in our correspondence with you.
Please visit the Program FAQ for additional information about the program, eligibility, and the application process.
Industry partners are required to:
- Hire a diverse pool of interns. Internship positions must be at least half-time (17 hrs/week) and pay a minimum wage as required in the state of employment. More specifically, a remote intern, as well as an on-site intern, must be paid at least the minimum hourly wage in the state in which the publisher or agency is located.
- Children’s Internships: For publishers, the internship must be exclusively in the children’s division. For literary agencies, the intern must spend 50% of their time working on children’s books.
- Adult Internships: For both publishers and literary agencies, the internship must have a singular focus on adult publishing, spending 100% of the time on adult books.
- Attend partner onboarding calls organized by the WNDB Internship Grant Committees — partners will attend both Children’s and Adult Internship onboarding calls where applicable.
- Post their internship opening(s) at a minimum of ten diverse colleges & universities. A list of colleges and universities is provided by WNDB.
- Notify all internship hires about the WNDB Internship Grant, as diversity is not always visible. In order to be considered for a WNDB Internship Grant, hired interns must apply directly to WNDB.
- Provide an assigned company mentor or grantee support personnel to the intern for the length of the given internship. The mentor will meet and contact the intern regularly. Further content/support guidelines for mentors will be provided by WNDB.
- Provide hired grantee applicants with official offer letters on letterhead, which speak to the length of the summer internship with the pay rate designated clearly in the offer letter.
- Industry Partner Internships should take place within the June 1st through August 31st time frame and be at least 10 weeks in duration. An internship that begins two weeks before June 1st and/or ends two weeks after August 31st would be eligible for a grant.
- Understand the function of the grant is not to be used as salary for grantees, but given directly to the grantees by WNDB for their use to supplement the offered internship pay rate.
If you are interested in becoming an industry partner for the Children’s or Adult Internship Grant Programs, please fill out the form below for consideration.
Please note:
Industry partner application forms for the 2023 season are currently open until January 31st, 2023. Regardless, please submit a form if you're interested in learning more about partnering with us for 2024 as we can look to be flexible given partner need.
Internship Grant FAQ
Applicant FAQ
You can check the eligibility guidelines, or you can contact us at internships@diversebooks.org with specific queries.
We define “diverse background” according to our mission statement:
We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA+, Native, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.
*We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization.
You’ll need to provide a copy of the official offer letter you received from your internship placement publisher or literary agency. With regard to diversity, we trust our applicants to provide information that is honest and accurate. We fully respect any and all laws relating to privacy and therefore do not request access to any confidential demographic information collected by other institutions (such as publisher HR departments).
Candidates should address the essay questions thoroughly and thoughtfully, in a way that showcases their personality, systems thinking, passion for diversifying children’s and adult literature, and commitment to learning about the publishing industry. Both children's and adult committees are looking for essay responses that are roughly 500 words in length each. These responses carry considerable weight in the application review process.
You may apply for a WNDB Internship Grant while you simultaneously apply to partner publishers and/or literary agencies. You may also apply after you have received an offer. Your application will not be read until we receive an official offer letter from one of our partner publishers and/or literary agencies, and therefore, if you apply for the grant before you obtain an internship, be sure to return to your application to attach the offer letter.
No. Please do not include any supplemental materials that aren’t explicitly listed in the application guidelines.
Yes. As a grantee, you will be expected to attend various events throughout the summer including an introductory Internship Grant Bootcamp, as well as additional professional development and networking events, publishing panels, organized partner mentor/mentee meetings, and an exit interview/testimonial of the program.
Yes. You do not qualify for the grant unless you are being paid as an intern as seen in the eligibility criteria. There are no exceptions.
There are no limitations, but we encourage you to use the grant funding for travel and living expenses directly related to your internship.
No, but we may ask you to write a letter describing your use of the grant funds at the conclusion of your internship.
The grant money will be sent to you in a single check or direct deposit after:
- You’ve formally accepted an Internship Grant and its expectation requirements,
- We’ve confirmed your acceptance with the publisher via your offer letter,
- The Internship Grant Committee has selected you as a grant recipient based on your application and brief virtual interview, and
- You will be asked to fill out an acceptance form for the grant, which will include a form from our finance team on how you'd like your payment processed.
No. However, if the publisher submits a request to WNDB before the application window closes and agrees to the Partner terms of WNDB, they can become a partner, subject to review by the WNDB Internship Grant Committee. You can then apply. We’re collaborating very closely with our partner publishers, and our priority is ensuring those partnerships receive the degree of attention and energy they deserve. Note that for the Children's Internship Grant program, the internship must be with a children’s imprint of our partner publishers. Additionally, Adult Internship Grant applicants must apply to adult imprints within our publishing partners.
No. However, if the agency submits a request to WNDB before the application window closes and agrees to the Partner terms of WNDB, they can still be a partner, subject to review by the WNDB Internship Grant Committee. You can then apply. For a literary agency internship to be eligible for the Children’s Grant Program, interns must spend at least 50% of their time working on children’s books. For a literary agency internship to be eligible for the Adult Grant Program, interns must spend 100% of their time working on adult books. Agencies who charge up-front fees to their clients are not eligible. We reserve the right to review all internship offers from agencies and determine eligibility.
We evaluate all applications in May and will follow up with considered applicants with a brief virtual interview. After virtual interviews have been completed, awarded applicants will receive notification of their grant award as soon as possible (tentatively early June timing).
We can’t advise you on the taxability of your grant, so we encourage you to consult a qualified tax preparation professional.
You’ll need to forgo the grant and reapply for a WNDB Internship Grant next year.
No. Grantees are only eligible to receive the grant once.
Industry Partner FAQ
No, the Internship Grant is a supplemental grant awarded to the intern and is in addition to the wages partners pay their interns, not a substitute for it.
No, partners hire interns using their own recruitment and hiring practices alongside the additional partnership agreement specifications.
It depends on the year and how much funding WNDB receives for this program. We award a minimum of five grants per year.
All intern applications will be evaluated. Unfortunately, not all interns will receive a grant.
At this time, only summer internships are eligible for the WNDB Internship Grant. The timeline of the internship position must overlap the months of June through August. Ideally, the internship should last at least 10 weeks. We can discuss potential alternatives with individual partners.
We will supply a list of colleges and universities with diverse student populations. The outreach list is inclusive of HBCUs and HSIs with additional partnered colleges and universities looking to support the Internship Grant Program.
Each program year, we post which Internship Grant industry partners hosted WNDB grantees on our website. Additionally, a larger program press release will announce all of the placements and there will be additional promotions on the rest of our social channels at the launch of the program season.
At this time, yes, interns can work remotely. Internship positions must be at least half-time (17 hrs/week) and pay a minimum wage as required in the state of employment. More specifically, a remote intern, as well as an on-site intern, must be paid at least the minimum hourly wage in the state in which the publisher or agency is located.
The internship must last at least ten weeks.
No. Grantees are only eligible to receive the grant once.
Please fill out our partner form below for partnership consideration.
Partner with the WNDB Internship Grant Programs
Please note: Industry Partners will be accepted for the 2021 season up until January 31st, 2021.