NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)is shutting down after more than 20 years of hosting its annual challenge for writers. In a video and an email sent to community members, the nonprofit organization explains that it can no longer continue “after years of financial struggles.”
Befo
re officially becoming a nonprofit in 2006, NaNoWriMo started out with just 21 writers in 1999. More than 400,000 writers participated in NaNoWriMo’s programs that challenged people to finish writing a novel within the month of November in 2022.
In 2023, many writers abandoned NaNoWriMo after it refused to take a stand against the use of AI tools in writing. Around the same time, one of its moderators faced child grooming accusations, leading to more criticism from the community.
As shown in the video, NaNoWriMo interim executive director Kilby Blades details how participation and fundraising in the program have decreased in recent years. The NaNoWriMo site will remain online for “as long as possible,” though it will no longer formally host its writing challenges.
“We recognize that the closure of NaNoWriMo represents a huge loss to the writing community, and that grief over this outcome will be exacerbated by the challenges of the past sixteen months,” NaNoWriMo’s email to the community says. “This is not the ending that anybody wanted or planned. And—believe us—if we could hit the delete button and rewrite this last chapter, we would. But we do have hope for the epilogue.”
Even with the closure of NaNoWriMo, writers can still challenge themselves to write a novel during November. Or, they can try out an alternative. ...read more read less
