Writers’ Emergency Fund

The Writer’s Emergency Fund provides one-time grants of $500-$1000 for published authors.

Reviews and Responds to applications within 14 days. In response, PEN America will distribute grants based on applications that demonstrate an inability to meet an acute financial need, especially one resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

To be eligible, applicants must be based in the United States, be a professional writer, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping them to address an emergency situation. The fund is limited, and not every application can be supported. Writers do not have to be Members of PEN America to receive a grant, but all recipients of emergency funding will be given a complimentary one-year membership to PEN America.

The Writers’ Emergency Fund is intended to assist fiction and non-fiction authors, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, translators, and journalists. View application for further eligibility requirements.