2026 PEN/Bare Life Review Grants

The PEN/Bare Life Review Grants recognize literary works by immigrant and refugee writers. For the 2025 grant cycle, we will confer two PEN/Bare Life Review Grants with cash prizes of $5,000 each. 

Deadline: Submissions will be accepted from April 1 through June 1, 2025. Submissions will close at 11:59 p.m. (EST, end of day) on June 1st. 

Eligibility:

• The submitted project must be the work of a single individual, written in or translated into English. In the case of translated works, the grant will be conferred to the original author.
• The project must be an unpublished work-in-progress that will not be published prior to April 1, 2026, as the grants are intended to support the completion of a manuscript.
• The project must be a work of a literary nature: fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry.
• This grant is available to foreign-born writers based in the U.S., and to writers living abroad who hold refugee/asylum seeker status.
• Writers may only submit one project per year.

NOT eligible: Scholarly or academic writing.

How to apply: Please note that the application will require the following, submitted as one PDF file, in the below order.

All documents should be in 12pt, Times New Roman, with 1-inch margins. Each document should be single-spaced with the exception of the writing sample which should be double-spaced.
 

• A 1-2 page description of the work, answering: Why is this project important, and why did this author choose to undertake this project?
• A 1-2 page statement answering: How will this grant aid in the completion of the project? (This space can additionally be used to discuss any permissions, rights, contracts, publication timelines, or other aspects of your project.)
• A CV for the author of the project, which should include information on previous or forthcoming publications.
• An outline that includes the work completed thus far and the work remaining.
• A writing sample of up to 40 pages for poetry, and 75 pages for other genres. This, exceptionally, should be double spaced for legibility.

Physical entries are accepted only from adults incarcerated in a federal or state prison, county jail, or other detention center. Submissions postmarked between April 1, 2025 and May 15, 2025 will be considered. 

Submit by sending work to:

PEN America Literary Programs

ATTN: PEN Literary Grants

120 Broadway

26th Floor North

New York, NY 10271 

Due to the volume of submissions, PEN America is unable to return submitted manuscripts.  Authors retain all rights to their work upon publication. 

• Manuscripts should be typewritten and double-spaced (except for poetry) whenever possible, or legibly handwritten on 8.5-by-11-inch paper.
• If possible, please send copies of your work, not the originals. PEN America is unable to return manuscripts after submission.
• Please follow the submission guidelines, including adding page numbers, name and/or title on each document.

These guidelines are for incarcerated writers only. If you are a writer on the outside and send a physical submission, it will be returned unread.

Please consult our FAQ page before contacting awards@pen.org with any questions.