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Fellowships, Workshops & Trainings

Fellowships, Workshops & Trainings

Intensive trainings, community, and resources to guide writers and activists.

A collage of images showcases Pen America workshops with people in discussion and writing. A woman speaks to a group, while three individuals sit reading papers. Close-up shots capture hands writing. The background is adorned with red and blue graphic elements.

Enhance Your Literary Craft and Career

Emerging Voices Workshop LA

The Emerging Voices Workshop in Los Angeles serves early-career writers from communities underrepresented in the publishing world. An outgrowth of the long running Emerging Voices Fellowship, this in-person craft intensive shares the goal of demystifying publishing, cultivating literary community, and diversifying the publishing and entertainment industries. 

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Illustration of three diverse people with a cityscape and colorful sky in the background. Text reads “Los Angeles Emerging Voices Workshop” in bold white letters—part of the inspiring Pen America workshops series.
An illustration of diverse people in vibrant colors at Pen America workshops, reading and writing. It features a person with glasses, a notebook, and a laptop. Various skin tones are set against a bright red-orange background.

Emerging Voices Fellowship (Virtual)

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.

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You Are a Writer Workshops

Inspired by PEN America’s Emerging Voices Fellowship for early career writers, our annual You Are a Writer sessions provide practical insights into the business of books. Join us for an upcoming session on the ins and outs of launching and sustaining a fulfilling writing life.

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A laptop with a green screen displays the words You are a writer. in large red text. Next to the keyboard is a small paper with the PEN America logo, hinting at creative inspiration from PEN America workshops.
A colorful book cover titled Dreaming Out Loud: An Anthology of Migrant Writers, Vol. 6. Created through Pen America workshops, it features a line drawing of a face with closed eyes, orange butterflies, and a pink-purple gradient background. Logos are on the left.

DREAMing Out Loud

DREAMing Out Loud is a paid, tuition-free creative writing workshop series for migrant writers in which participants develop original short stories, poetry, and/or personal essays—under the tutelage of writer Álvaro Enrigue—to be performed at public readings.

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Poets Across Lines

Poets Across Lines is a cross-regional program presented in Birmingham, Alabama and Tucson, Arizona offering poets in the two regions financial and material support to create original poems around the themes of housing, immigration, and/or LGBTQIA+ experience

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Illustration of a pen drawing a line with the text POETS ACROSS LINES on a light gray background. The pen and part of the text, reminiscent of Pen Americas workshops, are positioned over a white circle.
Illustration of colorful books arranged in a row with the text BOOKS THAT SAVED ME, where SAVED ME is written in red, emphasizing the importance of books.

Books That Saved Me

Books That Saved Me is a summer-long workshop that brings participants across generations together using poetry, a love for books, and a shared regional history as a bridge to better understand themselves, each other, and the power of the written word. 

Across eight writing sessions, an Alabama-based poetry instructor will lead participants in the creation of original poems inspired by books that have had resonance in their lives and that have been banned somewhere in the United States.

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Trainings for Professionals

Computer screen showing a URL bar and text that reads Defending the Freedom to Read: A Workshop Series for Organizers and Authors with the PEN America logo in the corner.

Defending the Freedom to Read 101

These sessions will provide practical strategies for addressing common issues including disinformation, digital safety and privacy, how to get started organizing, engaging local elected officials, and more. Participants will gain skills and tools for navigating legal uncertainty, assessing risk for in-person author events and advocacy actions, preparing for public statements online, and more.

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Campus for All Trainings

These sessions equip academic leaders, faculty, and staff to respond to a range of scenarios involving academic freedom, hate, and difficult dialogue.

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A presenter stands at the front of a classroom giving a Pen America workshops presentation to an audience seated at tables. Two projector screens display slides with silhouettes of people thinking.
A woman stands at the front of a room giving a presentation titled Online Harassment Self-Defense to an audience, as part of PEN America workshops. A screen displays the PEN America logo and a manual cover.

Online Abuse Defense Training Program

PEN America offers a robust training program to equip writers, journalists, and others with strategies and resources to protect themselves and one another. While there are no easy answers, open conversations about the impact of online abuse and how to fight back can empower writers and journalists to remain online and continue exercising their free expression rights.

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