PEN America Literary Awards Submissions

Submissions for the 2024 PEN America Literary Awards are open from June 1, 2023 through August 1, 2023.

Submission Guidelines:

  • All submitted books must be published by a trade or academic publisher between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023. Self-published books are ineligible for the PEN America Literary Awards.

  • Books with more than one original author are ineligible for the PEN America Literary Awards.

  • PEN America will only accept submissions from publishers or literary agents. Authors may not submit their own books.

  • Submissions of a book to multiple awards is allowed only in the case of the PEN Open Book Award. Please select only one award on the submission form, unless the book additionally meets the criteria of the PEN Open Book Award.

  • Please submit verified email addresses on the submission form. This is so that we may directly be in contact if an author or translator is selected as for as a longlister, finalist, and/or winner.

  • Upload a PDF file of the galley or final manuscript. Following pandemic-related protocols, book award submissions will be read as PDF files. Please upload the file saved as BOOKTITLE_AUTHORNAME. For the judges’ convenience, please upload a book file WITHOUT watermarks. Each book file will be kept confidentially between the Literary Awards team and the awards Judges. (Please note that if a book is longlisted, PEN America may request a physical copy be sent to the judging panel.) If you are having trouble uploading your book, please email [email protected] before submitting an alternative file.

  • Upload a high-resolution book jacket photo. This may be used later if the book is longlisted, a finalist, or a winner.

  • Each submission is $85. Submission fees are not refundable. Please note that we are asking that all submissions payments be made via the options available on our submission platform.

  • Submission fees may be waived for publishers whose annual net sales are less than $2 million. You may request an exemption here–this form asks for a company official write a letter on company letterhead stating that the press’s annual net sales are less than $2 million. Do not submit your title before requesting your fee exemption, as the Literary Awards Team will provide you with an alternative submission method. 

  • Once the submitted book is received and reviewed for eligibility by PEN America, it will be passed along to the judges. Please add [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected] to your address book, as these emails will be the main point from PEN America.

SUBMIT HERE