PEN America 2022 Emerging Voices Fellowship

The Emerging Voices Fellowship provides a virtual five-month immersive mentorship program for early-career writers from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the publishing world. 

• Table of Content
• About PEN America
• Emerging Voices Fellowship
• Aim and Benefits of Emerging Voices Fellowship
• Requirements for Emerging Voices Fellowship Qualification
• Interview date, Process and Venue for Emerging Voices Fellowship
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About PEN America

PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Founded in 1922, PEN America is the largest of the more than 100 centers worldwide that make up the PEN International network. PEN America works to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to convey information and... continue reading

Emerging Voices Fellowship

Aim and Benefits of Emerging Voices Fellowship

Mentorship and Knowledge of the Business of Books

• Five months of guidance from a professional mentor on their current writing project
• Insider knowledge about publishers and literary agencies through panels and Q&As

Community

• Writing and craft conversations with accomplished visiting authors
• One public event featuring reading of new work by current fellows
• A one-year membership in PEN America

A Writer’s Toolkit

• A professional headshot
• Deals and discounts for classes and programs from partner organizations
• A submission guide for literary journals, agents, residencies, and fellowships
• Masterclasses and workshops in genre, reading and voice technique, copyediting, and other relevant topics

Requirements for Emerging Voices Fellowship Qualification

• Applicants must be 21 years of age or older at time of application.
• Applicants do not need to be a U.S. permanent resident and/or citizen but must be residing in the United States at the time of applying for, and during the duration of, the fellowship.
• Applicants must be available to participate actively in all dimensions of fellowship programming, including mandatory virtual workshops, virtual gatherings, and virtual public programs.
• Applicants cannot be enrolled in a degree-granting program at the time of the fellowship’s start date (June 2022).
• Applicants cannot be a recipient of an advanced degree in fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry.
• Applicants cannot have one or more books published through major or independent publishers, university presses, or established presses, nor have a book under contract to a publisher at the time of application. Chapbooks or work published in literary journals are acceptable.
• Former Emerging Voices Fellows are not eligible to reapply.

Interview date, Process and Venue for Emerging Voices Fellowship

Given the highly competitive nature of the selection process for this fellowship, we advise using care in your project application. Though the application will be assessed as a whole, fellows will be selected primarily based on the strength of the writing sample by a committee of established writers and publishing professionals, former fellows, and PEN America staff. We encourage you to submit writing that best showcases your work.

Please be mindful of the specific application requests. Failure to follow instructions carefully will result in disqualification. Late applications will not be accepted, without exception. We suggest you submit early to avoid technical issues. Applicants may only submit in one genre to the 2022 fellowship.

The selection decisions of PEN America will be final and not subject to review. We regret that due to the volume of applications, we will not be able to provide any individualized feedback at any point during or after the application process. General questions about the application process sent to [email protected] will be answered at the discretion of PEN America.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

For more details, visit PEN America website.