Skip to content

Flamboyan Arts Fund

Letras Boricuas

A Fellowship Supporting Puerto Rican Writers Across Literary Genres

Letras Boricuas celebrates the diversity, width, and complexity of Puerto Rican writers’ experiences across Puerto Rico and the United States. The grant is a collaborative effort between the Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Arts Fund.

Established in 2021, the fellowship aims to identify, elevate, and amplify the voices of both established and emerging Puerto Rican writers in the archipelago and across the diaspora. It also seeks to provide vital support to help preserve and strengthen Puerto Rico’s rich yet historically underfunded literary tradition.

Letras Boricuas embraces multiple literary forms, including poetry, spoken word, fiction, creative nonfiction, and playwriting. Our fellows represent a wide range of creators at various stages of their professional development.

To date, 84 Puerto Rican writers from the archipelago and the diaspora have received more than $2 million in support through Letras Boricuas.

Para español, pulsa aquí.

What is the Letras Boricuas Fellowship?

The Letras Boricuas fellowship is an opportunity sponsored by the Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Arts Fund, offering an unrestricted grant of $25,000 to support writers’ financial sustainability and literary practice.

One of the program’s most meaningful aspects is that fellows also can connect with participants from previous cohorts, fostering an active and supportive literary community.

At a Glance

Four rounds of award-winning writers have been announced in:
– November 2021
– November 2022
– November 2023
– November 2025

The Letras Boricuas fellowship is an opportunity sponsored by the Flamboyan Arts Fund and the Mellon Foundation, offering an unrestricted grant of $25,000 to support writers.

Letras Boricuas seeks to connect established authors from diverse backgrounds whose work reflects the breadth and complexity of the Puerto Rican experience.

Fellows Letras Boricuas

Cohort 1

Mrinali Álvarez Astacio
Francisco Félix Canales Dalmau
Cezanne Cardona-Morales
Martín Espada
Francisco Font Acevedo
Mariposa Fernández
Amina Gautier
Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón
Amanda Hernández
Mónica A. Jiménez
Yara Liceaga-Rojas
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
Vanessa Mártir
Luis Negrón
Manolo Núñez Negrón
Juanluís Ramos Rodríguez
Jonatán Reyes
Mercy Romero
Carmen L. Rodríguez Marín
Xavier Valcárcel de Jesús

Cohort 2

Claudia Acevedo-Quiñones
Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro
José Lee Borges
Kattia Chico Morales
Yarisa Colón Torres
Marta Jazmín García-Nieves
Ivelisse Housman
Natalie Lima
Juan López Bauzá
Joserramón Melendes
Urayoán Noel
Mara Pastor
Ashley Pérez García
Margarita Pintado Burgos
Hugo Ríos Cordero
Ivelisse Rodriguez
Bonafide Rojas
Carlos Vázquez Cruz
Gisselle Yepes
Haydée Zayas-Ramos

Cohort 3

Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya
Jaquira Díaz
Carina del Valle Schorske
Mayda del Valle
Roxana D. Domenech Cruz
Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez
Christian Ibarra
Cindy Jiménez-Vera
Samuel Medina
Richie Narvaez
Rayze Michelle Ostolaza Oquendo
Willie Perdomo
José Rabelo
Charles Rice-Gonzalez
Alejandra Rosa
Huascar Robles
Gaddiel Francisco Ruiz Rivera
Roque Raquel Salas Rivera
Ana Teresa Toro
Vincent Toro

Enter and apply

All applications must be submitted through the Submittable platform. Check the supporting documents and click on the link and apply.

Enter

Information and general guidelines

Download

Eligibility Requirements

Download

Application Form Examples by Category and Literary Genres

Playwriting

Fiction

Creative Non Fiction

Poetry (written)

Spoken word

Partners

The Letras Boricuas Fellowship is a collaboration between The Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Arts Fund

Partners

The Letras Boricuas fellowship a collaboration between the Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Arts Fund of the Flamboyan Foundation.

The Mellon Foundation

Learn More

The Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.

Learn More

Flamboyan Foundation

Learn More

Guided by the belief that all children deserve the opportunity to live a fulfilling life, the Flamboyan Foundation works to ensure every child in the US and Puerto Rico receives an outstanding education. In D.C., Flamboyan is accelerating student learning by helping educators and school systems transform their relationships with families. In Puerto Rico, Flamboyan is ensuring students are reading in Spanish on grade level by third grade while building a thriving philanthropic and nonprofit sector, which includes arts and cultural organizations.

Learn More

Flamboyan Arts Fund

Learn More

The Flamboyan Arts Fund is a partnership between the Flamboyan Foundation, Lin-Manuel Miranda, his family, and the Broadway musical HAMILTON to preserve, amplify, and sustain the arts in Puerto Rico. Since its creation, the Fund has disbursed over $15 million to 100 organizations and 900 artists. The Flamboyan Arts Fund supports all facets of the arts community, including music, theater, visual arts, dance, literature, and youth arts education, to ensure that the arts and culture continue to flourish during the rebuilding of Puerto Rico.  

Learn More