PEN America 

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OVERVIEW: In addition to its prestigious awards program, PEN America offers grants and fellowships to writers working in various styles and genres. It has recently established two grantmaking programs for community projects concerning press freedom and literary engagement. 

IP TAKE: While PEN America’s literary awards require nomination by one or more members of its panel of judges, the organization also runs grant and fellowship programs for writers and translators working in various genres of fiction and nonfiction. Recent areas of interest include criminal justice, press freedom and the translation of works from underrepresented cultures and languages into English. Grants and fellowships are mainly awarded in amounts under $10,000, but are often accompanied by mentoring and publishing opportunities. 

PEN accepts applications for all its grant and fellowship programs, but requirements, guidelines and due dates vary by program.

PROFILE: Founded in 1922 in New York City, PEN America is the U.S. branch of PEN International, which “works to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to convey information and ideas, to express their views, and to access the views, ideas and literature of others.” Its membership is composed of thousands of writers, journalists, editors, publishers and other writing professionals who share the organizations’ mission. PEN runs several prestigious yearly awards programs and funds grants, fellowships, festivals and programs for writers and readers. 

Grants for Creative Writing 

PEN supports creative writing via its awards, grants and fellowship programs. Each year, the organization selects winners for18 separate awards loosely organized into the categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation and drama. PEN’s awards are considered to be among the most prestigious of American literary awards and generally go to authors whose works have attained a high level of success and critical acclaim. PEN’s grants and fellowships are more accessible and include the following:

  • PEN/Bare Life Review Grants are the organizations newest grantmaking program. Grants support “literary works in progress by immigrant and refugee writers, recognizing that the literature of migration is of inherent and manifest value.” Two awards, each in the amount of $5,000, will be awarded beginning in 2024.

  • The Phyllis Naylor Grant for Children’s and Young Adult Novelists is a $5,000 award for an author whose novel for young audiences is in progress. The grant is intended for “works of high literary caliber” and “to assist a writer at a crucial moment in their career.” 

  • The Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History are awarded to two separate projects each year that use “oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place or movement.” Each award amount is $15,000. 

  • The Emerging Voices Fellowship consists of a yearlong mentorship program and is awarded to ten early-stage writers from underrepresented or marginalized groups including, but not limited to “women, immigrants, people of color, older people, and those who are members of the LGBTQIA+ communities.” The program takes place in Los Angeles and involves one-on-one support, workshops and introductions to agents, editors and publishers. 

  • The Writing for Justice Fellowship was established in 2018 with the goal of supporting writers whose work will “illuminate critical issues related to mass incarceration and catalyze public debate.” Both emerging and established writers are eligible for this one-year fellowship, which is awarded in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $8,000. Fellows also participate in mentoring and workshops experiences and present completed projects in “public forums” at the end of the fellowship year. 

  • In 2022, PEN ran collaborated with the NYC Literacy Action Coalition to run the Writing as Activism Fellowship. This program consisted of a “a six-month immersive workshop experience for six New York City-based writer-activists committed to uplifting the voices of those most marginalized in the city through writing, including those who identify as LGBTQIA+, Black, Latinx, Asian American, Indigenous, disabled, low-income, and at any intersection of these and other experiences.” It is unclear if this program will resume in 2023 or beyond.

  • Via its PEN Across America initiative, PEN maintains a Literary Engagement and Activism Fund, which aims to support “local initiatives that facilitate community discourse on complex, often divisive social issues.” The program prioritizes projects that amplify the voices of marginalized communities through literary expression. Grants range from $500 to $3,000. Examples of funded projects include panel discussions, group reading experiences and town hall events surrounding issues including, but not limited to race, religion, labor rights, incarceration, immigration. 

  • PEN also maintains a Writers Emergency Fund, which makes small grants of $500 to $1,000 to professional writers experiencing “acute financial need.” 

Grants for Journalism

Some of PEN America’s awards, grants and fellowships have supported the work of journalists. Relevant awards include the Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography and the John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, both of which are awarded annually to writers whose projects attain a high level of critical acclaim. PEN America also maintains a Press Freedom Incentive Fund to support “members and their allies to mobilize their communities around press freedom.” The fund offers grants in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 as well as technical support for activities related to press freedom and broadened public understanding of media and journalism. Projects related to journalism have also been supported by PEN’s Literary Engagement and Activism Fund, which supports community projects that aim to build shared understanding and tolerance and amplify the voices of marginalized communities. 

Grants for Criminal Justice Reform 

PEN America supports criminal justice reform through its Writing for Justice Fellowship, which supports writers whose work addresses the issue of mass incarceration in the U.S. Fellowships prioritize projects that share the stories of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and their families, as well as projects that address “the wider impact of the criminal justice system” on society. As many as ten fellowships are awarded each year in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $8,000. Recipients also participate in mentoring programs and share their work in public forums at the conclusion of the fellowship year. 

Other Grantmaking Opportunities

PEN America also runs the Heim Translation Fund grantmaking program to “promote the publication and reception of translated international literature in English.” The program supports between ten and 15 translators each year with grants ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 and has assisted translators in finding publishers for many projects. The program prioritizes early-career translators and works by writers of underrepresented literatures and languages. 

A second translation grant the PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature supports in-progress translations of works of fiction or literary nonfiction from Italian to English. These grants are awarded in the amount of $5,000.

Important Grant Details:

PEN America gives away about $350,000 each year through its awards, grants and fellowships programs. While the organization’s prestigious literary prizes are awarded in amounts up to $75,000, grants and fellowships generally remain under $10,000. Recipients tend to be writers and community projects whose goals align closely with those of PEN’s specific funding programs. Examples of grantees, fellows and funded projects are linked to PEN’s grants and fellowships and PEN Across America pages. 

While PEN’s literary awards generally require nomination by one or more of PEN’s appointed panel of judges, the organization does run open applications for its grants, fellowships and PEN Across America programs. Guidelines and due dates vary by program and are available on individual program pages. General inquiries about grants and fellowships may be submitted to PEN via email. 

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