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Michelle Franke is the Executive Director of PEN Center USA.
PEN Center USA Has undergone a number of recent programming changes, which are reflected in the edits made.
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|size =
|size =
|alt = The letters PEN CENTER USA placed vertically to each other
|alt = The letters PEN CENTER USA placed vertically to each other
|caption = A Global Literary Community
|caption = A Human Rights & Literary Arts Organization
|map =
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|purpose = [[Publication]], [[Advocacy]], [[Literary award|Literary Awards]]<ref name=About />
|purpose = [[Publication]], [[Advocacy]], [[Literary award|Literary Awards]]<ref name=About />
|headquarters = [[London, UK]]{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}
|headquarters = [[London, UK]]{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}
|location = [[Beverly Hills]], [[California]]<ref name=About />
|location = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]<ref name=About />
|coords = {{coord|34.061711|N|118.401705|W|region:US-CA_type:landmark|display=inline}}
|coords = {{coord|34.061711|N|118.401705|W|region:US-CA_type:landmark|display=inline}}
|region_served = Western Half of USA<ref name=About />
|region_served = Western Half of USA<ref name=About />
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|former name =
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'''PEN Center USA''', founded in 1943, is one of two [[International PEN|PEN]] centers in the United States and 145 centers in the world.<ref name=About>{{cite web|title=PEN Center USA: About|url=http://penusa.org/about|work=http://penusa.org/about}}</ref> It was incorporated as a [[non-profit organization]] in 1981.<ref name=About /> PEN Center USA’s membership of more than 800 writers includes poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists (for the original letters in the "PEN" acronym), as well as television and screenwriters, critics, historians, editors, journalists, translators, and booksellers.<ref name="About"/> Its activities include public literary events, fellowship and mentoring programs, literary awards, and international human rights campaigns on behalf of writers who are censored or imprisoned.
'''PEN Center USA''' is a branch of [[PEN International|PEN]], the world’s leading international literary and human rights organization. PEN Center USA is one of two PEN International Centers in the United States. The other is PEN America, in New York City. PEN Center USA is the third largest PEN International Center in the world and was founded in 1943 and incorporated as a nonprofit association in 1981.<ref name=About>{{cite web|title=PEN Center USA: About|url=http://penusa.org/about|work=http://penusa.org/about}}</ref>PEN Center USA incorporated as a [[non-profit organization]] in 1981.<ref name=About /> PEN Center USA’s membership of more than 700 writers includes poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists (for the original letters in the "PEN" acronym), as well as television and screenwriters, critics, historians, editors, journalists, translators, and booksellers.<ref name="About"/> Through Freedom To Write programming and events, PEN Center USA advocates for imprisoned, censored, and persecuted writers throughout the world, while cultivating and expanding a diverse and engaged literary community in the western United States.

PEN Center USA is an affiliate of [[International PEN]], which was founded in London in 1921.<ref name="International about">{{cite web|title=PEN International: About Us|url=http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/about-us|work=http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/about-us}}</ref> It is located in [[Los Angeles]] and primarily serves writers living west of the [[Mississippi river]].


== History ==
== History ==
Line 49: Line 47:
PEN Center USA’s mission is to stimulate and maintain interest in the written word, to foster a vital literary culture, and to defend freedom of expression domestically and internationally.<ref name=About />
PEN Center USA’s mission is to stimulate and maintain interest in the written word, to foster a vital literary culture, and to defend freedom of expression domestically and internationally.<ref name=About />


⚫
== Freedom To Write Programming ==
Along with other centers around the world, PEN Center USA advocates for the release of imprisoned writers and for the protection of writers who suffer political prosecution, persecution, and censorship. The organization also produces a variety of programming for the writing community, which includes emerging and existing writers, translators, editors, agents, publishers, booksellers, teachers, librarians, and students in the public school system.
PEN Center USA offers Freedom to Write programming, manifested in four channels of action: the FTW Advocacy Network, the Emerging Voices Fellowship, PEN in the Community, and the annual Literary Awards. Each of these programs pursue the goals of the essential Freedom to Write idea—to support writers' freedom of expression and to promote access to their writing globally. <ref>https://penusa.org/freedom-write-programs</ref>


=== Freedom to Write Advocacy Network ===
== Programming ==
⚫
Freedom to Write Advocacy Network is a worldwide, collaborative effort to support free speech and to defend writers whose civil and human rights have been violated. In 1948, International PEN members helped to craft [[Article 19]] of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]], which guarantees that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression… and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”<ref name="Freedom to Write">{{cite web|title=PEN Center USA: Freedom to Write|url=http://penusa.org/programs|work=http://penusa.org/programs|accessdate=25 March 2011}}</ref> PEN holds Category A status at [[UNESCO]] and consultative status with the [[United Nations]].

⚫
=== Freedom to Write ===
⚫
Freedom to Write is PEN's worldwide, collaborative effort to support free speech and to defend writers whose civil and human rights have been violated. In 1948, International PEN members helped to craft [[Article 19]] of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]], which guarantees that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression… and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”<ref name="Freedom to Write">{{cite web|title=PEN Center USA: Freedom to Write|url=http://penusa.org/programs|work=http://penusa.org/programs|accessdate=25 March 2011}}</ref> PEN holds Category A status at [[UNESCO]] and consultative status with the [[United Nations]].


As a member of International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee, PEN Center USA members visit their colleagues in prison in other parts of the world and deliver aid in the form of letters and financial assistance.<ref name="Freedom to Write" /> PEN Center USA’s Freedom to Write Committee, made up of more than 200 volunteer writers, investigates regional and country-specific problems. Past efforts include the Nigeria Initiative, aimed at publicizing the link between oil politics and the silencing of dissent in [[Nigeria]], and a coordinated campaign to end violent attacks against journalists in [[Latin America]].<ref name="Freedom to Write" />
As a member of International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee, PEN Center USA members visit their colleagues in prison in other parts of the world and deliver aid in the form of letters and financial assistance.<ref name="Freedom to Write" /> PEN Center USA’s Freedom to Write Committee, made up of more than 200 volunteer writers, investigates regional and country-specific problems. Past efforts include the Nigeria Initiative, aimed at publicizing the link between oil politics and the silencing of dissent in [[Nigeria]], and a coordinated campaign to end violent attacks against journalists in [[Latin America]].<ref name="Freedom to Write" />


As a member of the Rapid Action Network of International PEN, the PEN USA Freedom to Write Committee receives and responds to reports of arrests, attacks, and threats to more than 900 writers currently at risk around the world. Alerts are issued from International PEN via email to committee members, who then write letters of appeal to appropriate officials.<ref name="Freedom to Write" />
As a member of the Rapid Action Network of PEN International, the PEN Center USA receives and responds to reports of arrests, attacks, and threats to more than 700 writers currently at risk around the world. <ref>https://penusa.org/programs/freedom-to-write</ref>

⚫
=== PEN in the Community ===
A PEN In The Community (PITC) writing residency is a generative writing workshop that takes place in a classroom, community center, nonprofit organization, shelter, or reservation. Written work collected during the residency is published by PEN Center USA in PITC anthologies, which are windows into participant’s lives—their struggles, hopes, and experiences. PITC instructors are selected from PEN Center USA’s diverse membership to best match the needs of the community where they will teach.

In preparation for a PITC writing residency, PITC instructors and community leaders attend a mandatory orientation session at the PEN Center USA office. Then, working with the community leader, the PITC instructor develops a curriculum, with the goal of helping the participants complete a solid body of creative writing work. A PITC writing residency is comprised of twelve in-class writing workshops, the publication of a participant anthology, and a final public reading. Throughout the semester, the PITC program coordinator makes visits to each community center and communicates with all PITC instructors and community leaders on a weekly basis. <ref>https://penusa.org/programs/pen-in-the-community</ref>

⚫
=== Emerging Voices Fellowship ===
Emerging Voices is a literary fellowship that aims to provide new writers, who lack access, with the tools they will need to launch a professional writing career. The eight-month fellowship includes:

PROFESSIONAL MENTORSHIP: Emerging Voices Mentors are carefully chosen from PEN Center USA’s membership and from professional writers based in Los Angeles. The Mentor-Fellow relationship is expected to challenge the fellow's work and compel significant creative progress. Over the course of the fellowship, Emerging Voices Fellows and Mentors should meet three times in person, and be in contact at least once a month. In these three meetings, Mentors will offer written feedback on the Emerging Voices Fellows’ work in progress. Authors who have been mentors in the past include Ron Carlson, Harryette Mullen, Chris Abani, Ramona Ausubel, Meghan Daum, and Sherman Alexie.

CLASSES AT THE UCLA EXTENSION WRITERS’ PROGRAM: Participants will attend two free courses (a 12-week writing course and a one-day workshop) at UCLA Extension, donated by the Writers’ Program. Program Manager will assist the Emerging Voices Fellows with course selection.

AUTHOR EVENINGS: Every Monday, fellows will meet with a visiting author, editor or publisher and ask questions about craft. Fellows must read each visiting author's book before the evening. A schedule of Author Evenings will be distributed at the first Emerging Voices orientation meeting. Authors who have participated in the past have included Jonathan Lethem, Percival Everett, Maggie Nelson, Cynthia Bond, Aimee Bender, Jerry Stahl, and Bruce Bauman, senior editor of the literary magazine Black Clock.


MASTER CLASSES: After completing the UCLA Extension Writers' Program courses, Emerging Voices Fellows will enroll in a Master Class. The Master Class is a genre-specific workshop with a professional writer that affords fellows the opportunity to exchange feedback on their works in progress. Previous Master Class Instructors have included Diana Wagman, Alex Espinoza , and Paul Mandelbaum.
⚫
=== PEN in the Classroom ===
Started in 1995, PEN in the Classroom is a creative writing residency program for high school students in Southern California. PEN Center USA facilitates the residency, selecting a professional writer from its membership to design a curriculum and to instruct in-class writing workshops. The program publishes a student anthology and offers a PEN in the Classroom literary contest. The residency culminates in a public reading.<ref name="PEN in the Classroom">{{cite web|title=PEN Center USA: PEN in the Classroom|url=http://penusa.org/programs/pen-in-the-classroom|work=http://penusa.org/programs/pen-in-the-classroom|accessdate=25 March 2011}}</ref>


VOLUNTEER PROJECT: All Emerging Voices Fellows are expected to complete a 25-hour volunteer project that is relevant to the literary community. A few of the organizations that have participated included WriteGirl, 826LA, Cedars-Sinai Hospital, and STARS – San Diego Youth Services.
⚫
=== Emerging Voices ===
Emerging Voices is PEN Center USA's literary fellowship program. Applicants are accepted into the program for fiction, poetry, or non-fiction. Throughout the year-long cycle, each Emerging Voices fellow participates in a professional mentorship; hosted Q & A evenings with local authors; a series of Master classes focused on genre; and two public readings. The fellowship includes a $1,000 stipend.<ref name="Emerging Voices" /> The program is directed towards new writers who lack access and writers from immigrant, minority, and other underserved communities.<ref name="Emerging Voices">{{cite web|title=PEN Center USA: Emerging Voices|url=http://penusa.org/programs/emerging-voices|work=http://penusa.org/programs/emerging-voices|accessdate=25 March 2011}}</ref> In 2008, PEN Center USA published an anthology called ''Strange Cargo'' with work by the Emerging Voices fellows from that year.<ref name="Strange Cargo">{{cite web|title=Strange Cargo|url=http://penusa.org/store/strange-cargo|work=http://penusa.org/store/strange-cargo|accessdate=25 March 2011}}</ref> Past Emerging Voices mentors have included [[Jerry Stahl]], Mary Yukari Waters, [[Marisa Silver]], Mary Otis, and [[Sherman Alexie]].


VOICE INSTRUCTION CLASS: The Fellowship will provide a one-day workshop with Dave Thomas, a professional voice actor. The Emerging Voices Fellows will read their work in a recording studio and receive instruction on reading their work publicly.
=== The Mark ===
Emerging Voices alumni are invited to apply to a second fellowship program called [http://penusa.org/programs/themark The Mark]. This program is designed to help writers prepare their manuscripts for publication. It consists of a project defense, an ongoing workshop, a mid-term review, and a final review.<ref name="The Mark">{{cite web|title=PEN Center USA: The Mark|url=http://penusa.org/programs/themark|work=http://penusa.org/programs/themark}}</ref> Mark program instructors include Mary Otis, [http://www.dianawagman.com/ Diana Wagman], [[Anna Journey]], and [http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/crossroads/qa_american_poetry/page_48/ Gabrielle Calvocoressi].


PUBLIC READINGS: Fellows will participate in three public readings, The Welcome Party, Tongue & Groove Salon, and the Final Reading. Fellows have read in various venues and events including the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Silver Lake Jubilee, Skylight Bookstore, The Standard, Downtown LA. and Hotel Café. For the past five years, the fellowship has culminated in a Final Reading held in Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theater, showcasing the progress each fellow has made in his or her work.
⚫
== Literary Awards ==
{{see also|List of PEN literary awards}}
Established in 1982,<ref name=Awards /> PEN Center USA holds an annual competition that recognizes literary excellence in eleven categories: [[fiction]], [[creative nonfiction]], research nonfiction, [[poetry]], [[children’s literature]], [[translation]], [[journalism]], [[drama]], [[teleplay]], [[screenplay]], and graphic literature. Recipients of the Literary Awards are chosen by a panel of writers, editors, critics and journalists. Past award winners include [[Barbara Kingsolver]], [[Maxine Hong Kingston]], [[T. C. Boyle]] and [[Paul Thomas Anderson]].<ref name=Awards>{{cite web|title=PEN Center USA: Awards|url=http://penusa.org/awards|work=http://penusa.org/awards|accessdate=25 March 2011}}</ref>


STIPEND: The fellowship includes a $1,000 stipend, given in $500 increments.
=== 2011 Literary Awards Festival ===
PEN Center USA awarded four Festival Honorees in 2011. [[Robert Pinsky]] won the Lifetime Achievement Award; [[Dave Eggers]] received the Award of Honor for his work with [[826LA]]; [[Charles Bowden]] received the prestigious First Amendment Award; and [[Ellie Herman]] was given the Freedom to Write (Domestic) Award for her work with PEN In The Classroom. The Literary Awards, which honor the best writing in the western states with a $1000 (one thousand dollars) cash prize, were presented at the 21st Annual Literary Awards Festival at the [[Beverly Hills Hotel]] on Tuesday, November 8, 2011.


Participants need not be published, but the fellowship is directed toward poets and writers of fiction and creative nonfiction with clear ideas of what they hope to accomplish through their writing. <ref>https://penusa.org/programs/emerging-voices</ref>
[[Robert Pinsky]], Lifetime Achievement Honoree, published ''Selected Poems'' in 2011. His recent anthology, with accompanying audio CD, is ''Essential Pleasures''. His honors include the [[Harold Washington]] Award from the city of [[Chicago]] and the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' Book Prize for his translation ''The Inferno of Dante''. Videos from the Favorite Poem Project, an organization that he founded during his tenure as U.S. Poet Laureate, can be viewed at [http://www.favoritepoem.org www.favoritepoem.org].


The program is directed towards new writers who lack financial or creative access and writers from immigrant, minority, and other underserved communities. <ref>https://penusa.org/programs/emerging-voices</ref>
[[Dave Eggers]], Award of Honor Honoree, is the author of seven books, including ''Zeitoun'', which has been awarded the American Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize, the Robert F. Kennedy Distinguished Honor, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council's Media Award. His novel ''[[What Is the What]]'' was a finalist for the 2006 [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] and winner of France's [[Prix Médicis]]. His first book, ''[[A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius]]'', was a finalist for the [[Pulitzer Prize]]. Eggers is the founder and editor of [[McSweeney’s]], an independent publishing house, and the co-founder of [[826 Valencia]], a nonprofit writing and tutoring center in [[San Francisco]]. Seven cities across the country have since opened 826 centers. In 2004, Eggers and Dr. Lola Vollen co-founded ''[[Voice of Witness]]'', a series of books using oral history to illuminate human rights crises. He was named one of ''[[TIME Magazine]]''′s 100 Most Influential People in 2005, and received the 2007 Heinz Award and the 2008 [[TED Prize]]. A native of Chicago, Eggers graduated from the [[University of Illinois]] with a degree in journalism.


⚫
=== Literary Awards & Festival ===
[[Charles Bowden]], First Amendment Award Honoree, is the recipient of a [[Lannan Literary Award]] for Nonfiction, the Sidney Hillman Prize, and a United States Artists Fellowship. He is the critically acclaimed author of many books, including ''Murder City'', ''Down by the River'', and ''A Shadow in the City'', and co-editor of ''El Sicario''. He is a contributing editor of ''[[GQ]]'' and ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' magazine, and writes for other magazines, including ''[[Harper's]]'' and ''[[Aperture]]''. Bowden lives in [[Las Cruces, New Mexico]].
PEN Center USA’s annual awards program, established in 1982, is a unique, regional competition that recognizes literary excellence in eleven categories: fiction, creative nonfiction, research nonfiction, poetry, children’s literature, graphic literature, translation, journalism, drama, teleplay, and screenplay. Past award winners include Barbara Kingsolver, Maxine Hong Kingston, T.C. Boyle, and Paul Thomas Anderson. Each year, PEN Center USA calls for submissions of work produced or published during one calendar year by writers living west of the Mississippi River. Entries in the eleven categories are reviewed and judged by panels of distinguished writers, critics, and editors. Winners are announced the following fall and each receives a $1,000 cash prize, a free year of membership with PEN Center USA, and an invitation to the Annual Literary Awards Festival in Los Angeles. <ref name=Awards>{{cite web|title=PEN Center USA: Awards|url=https://penusa.org/awards}}</ref>
The Literary Awards Festival is held in Beverly Hills and includes a dinner, a silent auction or raffle, and the presentation of The Literary Awards and honoree awards. This gala is the only one of its scope on the West Coast and is attended by more than 400 prominent members of the literary community. Past recipients of the Award of Honor and Lifetime Achievement Award include Ray Bradbury, Elmore Leonard, Norman Lear, Carolyn See, Gore Vidal, and Billy Wilder. The evening also features the presentation of the prestigious First Amendment Award, given to a candidate who has done work in the domestic United States to protect the First Amendment, as well as the Freedom to Write Award, given to a candidate who has fought for freedom of expression internationally. Both awards honor men and women who have produced exceptional work in the face of extreme adversity, who have been punished for exercising their freedom of expression, or who have fought against censorship and defended the right to publish freely.


== Membership ==
== Membership ==
PEN Center USA's membership comprises over eight hundred published authors (Full members), as well as a number of burgeoning writers (Associate
PEN Center USA's membership is comprised of over 700 published authors (Professional members), as well as literary community supporters (Distinguished Patron & Patron
members), students (Student members), and booksellers (Bookseller members). The annual dues of membership, which vary by type, provide significant financial support that allows members to carry out the work of PEN Center USA.
members), students (Student members), and booksellers (Bookseller members). The annual dues of membership, which vary by type, provide significant financial support that allows members to carry out the work of PEN Center USA. <ref>https://penusa.org/membership</ref>


== Literary events ==
== Literary events ==

Revision as of 23:33, 8 May 2015

This article is about the PEN center for the Western half of the USA. For the Eastern half, see PEN American Center.
PEN Center USA
AbbreviationEA
Formation1943[1]
TypeNon-profit, Literary society, Human Rights Campaigning[1]
Legal statusAssociation
PurposePublication, Advocacy, Literary Awards[1]
HeadquartersLondon, UK[citation needed]
Location
Coordinates34°03′42″N 118°24′06″W / 34.061711°N 118.401705°W / 34.061711; -118.401705
Region served
Western Half of USA[1]
Official language
English
Executive Director
Michelle Franke[1]
Key people
Board of Directors[1]
Parent organization
International PEN
Websitepenusa.org
RemarksPEN American Center is the representative of International Pen -for Western Half of USA

PEN Center USA is a branch of PEN, the world’s leading international literary and human rights organization. PEN Center USA is one of two PEN International Centers in the United States. The other is PEN America, in New York City. PEN Center USA is the third largest PEN International Center in the world and was founded in 1943 and incorporated as a nonprofit association in 1981.[1]PEN Center USA incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1981.[1] PEN Center USA’s membership of more than 700 writers includes poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists (for the original letters in the "PEN" acronym), as well as television and screenwriters, critics, historians, editors, journalists, translators, and booksellers.[1] Through Freedom To Write programming and events, PEN Center USA advocates for imprisoned, censored, and persecuted writers throughout the world, while cultivating and expanding a diverse and engaged literary community in the western United States.

History

The organization was originally established in 1943. In 1952 PEN International granted it the right to become PEN Los Angeles Center, able to set up its own chapters. In 1981 it was incorporated as a Non-profit organization. In 1988 it requested a name change, and eventually it was renamed to PEN USA Center West.[2]

Mission Statement

PEN Center USA’s mission is to stimulate and maintain interest in the written word, to foster a vital literary culture, and to defend freedom of expression domestically and internationally.[1]

Freedom To Write Programming

PEN Center USA offers Freedom to Write programming, manifested in four channels of action: the FTW Advocacy Network, the Emerging Voices Fellowship, PEN in the Community, and the annual Literary Awards. Each of these programs pursue the goals of the essential Freedom to Write idea—to support writers' freedom of expression and to promote access to their writing globally. [3]

Freedom to Write Advocacy Network

Freedom to Write Advocacy Network is a worldwide, collaborative effort to support free speech and to defend writers whose civil and human rights have been violated. In 1948, International PEN members helped to craft Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression… and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”[4] PEN holds Category A status at UNESCO and consultative status with the United Nations.

As a member of International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee, PEN Center USA members visit their colleagues in prison in other parts of the world and deliver aid in the form of letters and financial assistance.[4] PEN Center USA’s Freedom to Write Committee, made up of more than 200 volunteer writers, investigates regional and country-specific problems. Past efforts include the Nigeria Initiative, aimed at publicizing the link between oil politics and the silencing of dissent in Nigeria, and a coordinated campaign to end violent attacks against journalists in Latin America.[4]

As a member of the Rapid Action Network of PEN International, the PEN Center USA receives and responds to reports of arrests, attacks, and threats to more than 700 writers currently at risk around the world. [5]

PEN in the Community

A PEN In The Community (PITC) writing residency is a generative writing workshop that takes place in a classroom, community center, nonprofit organization, shelter, or reservation. Written work collected during the residency is published by PEN Center USA in PITC anthologies, which are windows into participant’s lives—their struggles, hopes, and experiences. PITC instructors are selected from PEN Center USA’s diverse membership to best match the needs of the community where they will teach.

In preparation for a PITC writing residency, PITC instructors and community leaders attend a mandatory orientation session at the PEN Center USA office. Then, working with the community leader, the PITC instructor develops a curriculum, with the goal of helping the participants complete a solid body of creative writing work. A PITC writing residency is comprised of twelve in-class writing workshops, the publication of a participant anthology, and a final public reading. Throughout the semester, the PITC program coordinator makes visits to each community center and communicates with all PITC instructors and community leaders on a weekly basis. [6]

Emerging Voices Fellowship

Emerging Voices is a literary fellowship that aims to provide new writers, who lack access, with the tools they will need to launch a professional writing career. The eight-month fellowship includes:

PROFESSIONAL MENTORSHIP: Emerging Voices Mentors are carefully chosen from PEN Center USA’s membership and from professional writers based in Los Angeles. The Mentor-Fellow relationship is expected to challenge the fellow's work and compel significant creative progress. Over the course of the fellowship, Emerging Voices Fellows and Mentors should meet three times in person, and be in contact at least once a month. In these three meetings, Mentors will offer written feedback on the Emerging Voices Fellows’ work in progress. Authors who have been mentors in the past include Ron Carlson, Harryette Mullen, Chris Abani, Ramona Ausubel, Meghan Daum, and Sherman Alexie.

CLASSES AT THE UCLA EXTENSION WRITERS’ PROGRAM: Participants will attend two free courses (a 12-week writing course and a one-day workshop) at UCLA Extension, donated by the Writers’ Program. Program Manager will assist the Emerging Voices Fellows with course selection.

AUTHOR EVENINGS: Every Monday, fellows will meet with a visiting author, editor or publisher and ask questions about craft. Fellows must read each visiting author's book before the evening. A schedule of Author Evenings will be distributed at the first Emerging Voices orientation meeting. Authors who have participated in the past have included Jonathan Lethem, Percival Everett, Maggie Nelson, Cynthia Bond, Aimee Bender, Jerry Stahl, and Bruce Bauman, senior editor of the literary magazine Black Clock.

MASTER CLASSES: After completing the UCLA Extension Writers' Program courses, Emerging Voices Fellows will enroll in a Master Class. The Master Class is a genre-specific workshop with a professional writer that affords fellows the opportunity to exchange feedback on their works in progress. Previous Master Class Instructors have included Diana Wagman, Alex Espinoza , and Paul Mandelbaum.

VOLUNTEER PROJECT: All Emerging Voices Fellows are expected to complete a 25-hour volunteer project that is relevant to the literary community. A few of the organizations that have participated included WriteGirl, 826LA, Cedars-Sinai Hospital, and STARS – San Diego Youth Services.

VOICE INSTRUCTION CLASS: The Fellowship will provide a one-day workshop with Dave Thomas, a professional voice actor. The Emerging Voices Fellows will read their work in a recording studio and receive instruction on reading their work publicly.

PUBLIC READINGS: Fellows will participate in three public readings, The Welcome Party, Tongue & Groove Salon, and the Final Reading. Fellows have read in various venues and events including the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Silver Lake Jubilee, Skylight Bookstore, The Standard, Downtown LA. and Hotel Café. For the past five years, the fellowship has culminated in a Final Reading held in Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theater, showcasing the progress each fellow has made in his or her work.

STIPEND: The fellowship includes a $1,000 stipend, given in $500 increments.

Participants need not be published, but the fellowship is directed toward poets and writers of fiction and creative nonfiction with clear ideas of what they hope to accomplish through their writing. [7]

The program is directed towards new writers who lack financial or creative access and writers from immigrant, minority, and other underserved communities. [8]

Literary Awards & Festival

PEN Center USA’s annual awards program, established in 1982, is a unique, regional competition that recognizes literary excellence in eleven categories: fiction, creative nonfiction, research nonfiction, poetry, children’s literature, graphic literature, translation, journalism, drama, teleplay, and screenplay. Past award winners include Barbara Kingsolver, Maxine Hong Kingston, T.C. Boyle, and Paul Thomas Anderson. Each year, PEN Center USA calls for submissions of work produced or published during one calendar year by writers living west of the Mississippi River. Entries in the eleven categories are reviewed and judged by panels of distinguished writers, critics, and editors. Winners are announced the following fall and each receives a $1,000 cash prize, a free year of membership with PEN Center USA, and an invitation to the Annual Literary Awards Festival in Los Angeles. [9]

The Literary Awards Festival is held in Beverly Hills and includes a dinner, a silent auction or raffle, and the presentation of The Literary Awards and honoree awards. This gala is the only one of its scope on the West Coast and is attended by more than 400 prominent members of the literary community. Past recipients of the Award of Honor and Lifetime Achievement Award include Ray Bradbury, Elmore Leonard, Norman Lear, Carolyn See, Gore Vidal, and Billy Wilder. The evening also features the presentation of the prestigious First Amendment Award, given to a candidate who has done work in the domestic United States to protect the First Amendment, as well as the Freedom to Write Award, given to a candidate who has fought for freedom of expression internationally. Both awards honor men and women who have produced exceptional work in the face of extreme adversity, who have been punished for exercising their freedom of expression, or who have fought against censorship and defended the right to publish freely.

Membership

PEN Center USA's membership is comprised of over 700 published authors (Professional members), as well as literary community supporters (Distinguished Patron & Patron members), students (Student members), and booksellers (Bookseller members). The annual dues of membership, which vary by type, provide significant financial support that allows members to carry out the work of PEN Center USA. [10]

Literary events

PEN Center USA produces a variety of events and original programming every year, including smaller staged readings, regular reading series, and large-scale special events for literary occasions.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "PEN Center USA: About". http://penusa.org/about. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  2. ^ Jack Miles (16 September 1990). "Growing Pains (and Pleasures) of PEN USA Center West". LA Times.
  3. ^ https://penusa.org/freedom-write-programs
  4. ^ a b c "PEN Center USA: Freedom to Write". http://penusa.org/programs. Retrieved 25 March 2011. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  5. ^ https://penusa.org/programs/freedom-to-write
  6. ^ https://penusa.org/programs/pen-in-the-community
  7. ^ https://penusa.org/programs/emerging-voices
  8. ^ https://penusa.org/programs/emerging-voices
  9. ^ "PEN Center USA: Awards".
  10. ^ https://penusa.org/membership
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