Emerging Voices Fellowship Grant

The Emerging Voices Fellowship offers a five-month virtual mentorship for early-career writers from underrepresented communities, including Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and disabled individuals. This program aims to enhance their publishing skills through one-on-one mentorship, workshops, and access to industry professionals. Participants also benefit from community-building events and an honorarium. Established by PEN America, this fellowship seeks to diversify the literary landscape and is open to various genres, fostering creative growth and professional development in a supportive environment.

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. The program is committed to cultivating the careers of Black writers, and serves writers who identify as Indigenous, persons of color, LGBTQ+, immigrants, writers with disabilities, and those living outside of urban centers. Through curated one-on-one mentorship and introductions to editors, agents, and publishers, in addition to workshops on editing, marketing, and creating a platform, the five-month fellowship nurtures creative community, provides a professional skill-set, and demystifies the path to publication—with the ultimate goal of diversifying the publishing and media industries. An iteration of the fellowship, the Emerging Voices Workshop, offers an intensive in person week-long workshop, offered twice annually, in Los Angeles, California.
The Emerging Voices Fellowship grew out of PEN America Los Angeles’s forum “Writing the Immigrant Experience,” held at the Los Angeles Central Library in March 1994, which explored the experiences of first- and second-generation immigrant writers. In 1996, PEN America Los Angeles initiated Emerging Voices as a mentorship program designed to provide professional resources to writers seeking financial and creative support to pursue their craft professionally. Virtually accessible programs and an expanded cohort of fellows will further the goal of diversifying the publishing and media industries by enabling participation from writers across the country.
Fellowship Benefits and Components
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&AsCommunity: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 AmericaA 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
PEN America will draw on the Emerging Voices Advisory Committee, as well as its network of agents, editors, publishers, partner organizations, and outlets in order to assist efforts for publication and dissemination of the work of the fellows. Opportunities for sharing the created work through public forums will be organized on virtual platforms.
Funding
Nine fellows will receive an honorarium of $1,500. Fellows will be paired with a mentor to serve as a source of guidance for the project.

Eligibility

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.The accepted genres for the Emerging Voices Fellowship are fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry.
Applicants must be available to participate actively in all dimensions of fellowship programming, including mandatory virtual workshops, virtual gatherings, and virtual public programs.

Ineligibility

Former Emerging Voices Fellows are not eligible to reapply.Writers who also are current PEN America staff, gap year fellows, or interns, trustees, or chairs of member committees are not eligible for the fellowship. Applicants cannot be enrolled in a degree-granting program at the time of the fellowship’s start date.Doctoral candidates who have completed all coursework are considered eligible.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.