Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History

The PEN/Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History support unique works of nonfiction that utilize oral history to shed light on significant events, individuals, or movements. With a focus on unpublished works-in-progress, these grants encourage literary excellence and are awarded to individual authors. Each grant offers $15,000 to foster the completion of impactful narratives. This initiative highlights the importance of oral history in literary nonfiction, with past recipients including notable writers such as Nyssa Chow and Aleksandar Hemon.

PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History
The PEN/Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History recognize literary works of nonfiction that use oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement. Past winners include Sharony Green, Loida Maritza Pérez, Nyssa Chow, and Aleksandar Hemon. We're pleased to announce that beginning with the 2021 grant conferral, we will confer two PEN/Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History with increased cash prizes of $15,000 each. All of the submission materials and guidelines will remain the same.

Eligibility

Who Is Eligible:The submitted project must be the work of a single individual, written in English.
The project must be a work of literary nonfiction.
Oral history must be a significant component of the project and its research.

Ineligibility

Scholarly or academic writing.