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The Posen Foundation will launch a fellowship for six Jewish studies scholars and two fiction writers.

The international fellowship will aim to support emerging Jewish academics and authors while they embark on their studies, according to advisory committee chair David Biale of U.C. Davis. Each of the fellows will receive a total of $40,000 over the two years of the fellowship.

The foundation, which supports secular Jewish education, will choose from doctoral students who are writing their dissertations on subjects pertaining to Jewish culture and modern Jewish history, and unpublished fiction writers who are working on a novel or short story that is Jewish-themed.

“There are few resources to support doctoral students writing their dissertations, and there are few prizes for new Jewish fiction,” Biale said. “This program fills those gaps.”

The deadline for the application is Jan. 15; the awards will be announced April 1. — jta