PEN America: Phyllis Naylor Grant for Children’s and Young Adult Novelists

The PEN America: Phyllis Naylor Grant for Children’s and Young Adult Novelists awards $5,000 annually to authors of children's or young adult fiction. This grant supports writers at critical stages in their careers, specifically for a novel-in-progress. Candidates must have published works that received positive critical reception but limited sales. Self-published works and collaborative manuscripts are ineligible, ensuring that the grant focuses on authors with established literary merit.

PEN/Phyllis Naylor Grant for Children’s and Young Adult Novelists
The PEN/Phyllis Naylor Grant for Children’s and Young Adult Novelists is offered annually to an author of children’s or young adult fiction for a novel-in-progress. Previously called the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, the award was developed to help writers whose work is of high literary caliber and assist a writer at a crucial moment in their career to complete their novel. The author of the winning manuscript, selected blindly by judges unaware of nominees’ names, will receive an award of $5,000.

Eligibility

Candidates must be a writer of children's or young adult fiction. Candidates must have published one or more novels for children or young adults that have been warmly received by literary critics, but have not generated significant sales.The writer’s previously published book(s) must be published by a U.S. trade publisher. We encourage candidates of all nationalities to apply so long as their previous works have been published by a US trade publisher.The submitted work must be a novel-in-progress.

Ineligibility

NOT eligible: Graphic novels and picture books. Manuscripts written by more than one person.Self-published works are ineligible.