How To Apply To The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction 2021

Faulkner Award For Fiction 2021 is the most prestigious annual peer-juried literary prize in America.

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction 2021

Faulkner Award For Fiction 2021 is the most prestigious annual peer-juried literary prize in America.

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction honors the best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar year. 

Three writers are chosen annually by the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to serve as judges, ensuring that our awards selection process is free of commercial influence. 

These judges select an initial longlist of ten books, followed by five finalists, and finally one winner as the “first among equals.” 

Prize: The author of the winning book receives a $15,000 prize. The authors of each of the other finalists receive $5,000. 

The Award is presented at an annual celebration of the year’s distinguished books and authors.

 This exquisite literary evening features introductions by the PEN/Faulkner Award judges, original presentations by the year’s PEN/Faulkner Award winner and four finalists, and a star-studded list of notable guests, including our PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion.

SUBMISSIONSJUDGESWINN Faulkner Award For Fiction Submission Guidelines

ELIGIBILITY

Books must be published in 2021.

Authors must be living American permanent residents.

Books must be published by a juried commercial, academic, or small press.

No self-published books are accepted.

There are no submission fees or application forms.

Advanced reading copies or proofs are eligible for submission for books that will be published in November or December of 2021.

Translation: a translation from another language into English by the author is eligible; a translation by someone other than the author is not. 

All submissions must be received by October 31, 2021.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Please send an easy-to-read PDF of each book to awards@penfaulkner.org for forwarding to the judges. You will receive an email confirmation from our team.

You are invited to send as many books as you like, and you are encouraged to send available books as soon as possible. Submissions may be made by publishers, authors, and literary agents.

Deadline:

 The PEN/Faulkner Foundation will be accepting submissions for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award between July 1 and October 31.