PEN Open Book Award

The PEN Open Book Award, formerly the Beyond Margins Awards, invites book submissions by authors of color, published in the United States during the applicable calendar year. The Open Book Award was created by PEN America’s Open Book Committee, a group committed to racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities. Works of fiction, literary nonfiction, biography/memoir, poetry, and other works of literary character are strongly preferred.

Beginning in the 2021 award cycle, the award will confer a $10,000 prize upon an author of color who has, prior to the submitted book’s publication, not received wide media attention. The winner additionally receives a fully-funded artist residency at Civitella Ranieri, located in a 15th century castle in rural Umbria, Italy.

All winners, finalists, and longlisters for this award are eligible to receive PEN America’s official emblems. If you are a publisher and interested in obtaining PEN America’s award emblem, please write to [email protected]. For more information, please visit our Awards FAQ page.

2025 Winner

To an exceptional book-length work of any literary genre by an author of color.

Winner: Vengeance Feminism: The Power of Black Women’s Fury in Lawless Times, Kali Nicole Gross (Seal Press, 2024)

From the judges’ citation: “Vengeance Feminism: The Power of Black Women’s Fury in Lawless Times is an enthralling account centering unsung Black women who fought racism and sexism with axes, pistols, hatchets, and fists. Gross digs deep into the archives to unearth remarkable stories of Black women who lied, cheated, stole, and hit back to defend their honor and demand justice that no one else would offer them. Gross marshals an impressive array of historical evidence, from arrest records to reportage from the Black presses, to render twentieth-century Philadelphia, its seedy back alleys, thriving juke joints, and parks bursting with picnics. At once humorous, provocative, and riveting, Vengeance Feminism writes into the gaps left by histories of the Black Women’s Club Movement and poor Black women often viewed as its passive beneficiaries. A rare page-turning history, the book leans into the elements of story, scene, dialogue, and plot, to bring its subjects to vibrant life. Gross offers a magnificent example of the necessity of reclaiming forms of resistance deemed disreputable and even dangerous, as well as a blueprint for grounding such stories in rich contexts to allow for empathy and respect for subjects. Gross’s elegant, eye-opening tour de force reminds us that Black women need not always “go high,” and that history shows they’ve always been on the frontlines defending their livelihoods, their bodies, and their honor, with a knife in hand.”

History

Eligibility

• A candidate’s work must have been published in the United States by a trade publisher between January 1 and December 31 of the applicable calendar year.
• Eligible books must be written by a single, living author in English.
• The PEN Open Book Award is open to authors of color who have not, prior to the submitted book’s publication, received wide media coverage. If you have a question regarding the author’s media coverage, please email [email protected].
• Works of fiction, literary nonfiction, biography/memoir, poetry, and other works of literary character are strongly preferred.
• U.S. residency or citizenship is not required.
• Self-published books are not eligible.

Submission Guidelines

• All submitted books must be published by a trade or academic publisher between January 1 and December 31 in the applicable year. 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.
• On the submission form, please select the award you are submitting to.
• Submissions of a book to multiple awards is allowed only in the case of the PEN Open Book Award. Please complete a separate submission for this award if applicable.
• Please submit verified email addresses on the submission form. Your order cannot be processed without an email address. Additional contacts are required so that we may be in contact directly if an author or translator is selected as a longlister, finalist, and/or winner.
• Upload a PDF file of the galley or final manuscript on the book submissions form. 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.
• 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 all payments must be made via the submission form.
• 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 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] to your address book, as it will be the main point of contact from PEN America.