The weeklong workshop is designed for fellows to connect with other writers and refine a current writing project while learning new skills and building literary community.

• January 1-31st, 2024: Emerging Voices Workshop application period
  Mar-Apr 2024: Emerging Voices Workshop Participants notified
  June 24-28, 2024: Emerging Voices Summer Workshop 
  December 2024: Emerging Voices Winter Workshop

• Applicants must be available to participate actively in all dimensions of Workshop programming, including in-person sessions between 10 AM PT and 5 PM PT, as well as the final public reading at 7 PM on Friday evening.
• Applicants cannot be enrolled in an MFA program or similar creative-writing related degree-granting program at the time of the Workshop’s start date (June 24, 2024).  Doctoral candidates who have completed all coursework are considered eligible, if their degree is in a subject other than creative writing. Applicants with advanced degrees in fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry are not eligible.
• Applicants with one or more published books or a book under contract to a publisher at the time of application are not eligible. Chapbooks or work published in literary journals are acceptable.
• 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 Workshop.
• Former Emerging Voices Fellows or Workshop attendees are not eligible.

Given the highly competitive nature of the selection process for this Workshop, we advise using care in your project application. Though the application will be assessed as a whole, participants 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. We suggest you submit early to avoid technical issues. Applicants may only submit in one genre to the 2024 Workshop.

The selections of the jury 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.

Applications close at 8:59pm PT / 11:59pm ET on January 31, 2024. Notifications of acceptance to the workshop will be issued in February 2024.

Terms of Use: PEN America archives submissions in their entirety for organizational purposes. We will never use or share your application outside of PEN America and the selection committee, and applicants retain all the rights to any work submitted.

PEN America does not discriminate based upon age, color, national origin, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, status as a veteran, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

Application Fee: $25

Do I need to live in LA to apply to the Emerging Voices Workshop?
Not necessarily. Accepted workshop participants who reside further than 2 hours from Santa Monica will be provided a stipend for local accommodation and ground transportation. 

Are there any age restrictions?
The Emerging Voices Workshop is open to all writers 21 years of age or older.

Can I submit work that has been previously published?
Yes, if you feel it is the work that best represents you as a writer.

Can you help me decide what work to submit as my writing sample?
No, although we do strongly encourage you to submit writing that corresponds to your genre and your project proposal. This allows the selection committee to gain a better understanding of your project and how you and your work could benefit from the Workshop.

How should the manuscript be formatted?
Fiction and nonfiction manuscripts should be 15 pages of double-spaced, 12-point font, one-inch margins all around. You may format poetry manuscripts however you feel best represents the poetry you are submitting, as long as you do not exceed the 10-page limit and the typed font is legible. All pages must be numbered. Your name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. The document must be in PDF format.

What does the selection committee look for in a manuscript?
A strong writing sample. The best advice we can give is to seek the advice of other writers and instructors when preparing your manuscript.

When are applicants notified of acceptance to the workshop?
All applicants to the June workshop will be notified in February. Applicants to the December workshop will be notified in August.

I write only screenplays/graphic novels/children’s books. Am I eligible?
No. At this time, the workshop serves writers working in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. All classes, mentors, and programming for the Workshop are based on one of these three genres. Many alumni have gone on to pursue careers in graphic novels, performance art, and screenwriting, but concentrated on either prose or poetry for the duration of the Workshop.

Do I need to provide references?
Applicants must provide the name and contact information (email address and phone number) for at least one reference. Your reference should be familiar with you and can attest to your character, ability to work within a community, and be familiar with your work. During the selection period, we may contact your reference(s) for additional information. Your reference should be aware that we may be in contact with them during that time. 

Is there an application fee?
Yes, there is a $25 fee to submit the application. The application fee must be paid on Submittable. Application fee waivers are available to any applicant upon request. Please email [email protected] to request an application fee waiver. 

If offered a place in the Workshop, may I defer acceptance for another year?
You may not defer acceptance.

If not awarded the Workshop, may I reapply for a future workshop?
Yes.

Are current PEN America staff, interns, donors, and Board members eligible for the Emerging Voices Workshop? What about past staff, gap year fellows, interns, donors, and Board members?
Writers who also are current PEN America staff, fellows, interns, trustees, or chairs of member committees are not eligible for the Workshop. We understand the literary community to be close and interconnected, and being involved with PEN America in these ways in the past does not result in disqualification. We ask that the writer have not been connected with PEN America in these ways during the calendar year of the applicable Workshop. For example, a person involved with PEN America in one of the categories described in 2024 will not be eligible for the Workshop in 2024.

If someone is a member and active in, say, a committee, they are eligible, so long as they aren’t chair or co-chair.

Am I allowed to apply to both the Emerging Voices Workshop in Los Angeles and the Emerging Voices Fellowship?
Applicants to the LA workshops are also welcome to also apply to the Emerging Voices Fellowship, a competitive virtual mentorship program serving writers across the country. Applicants will submit separate applications for each program. The committee for each program will review the respective applications individually and decisions by one program may not reflect decisions by the other. 

For more information, please write to [email protected].