PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is a national prize which honors the best published works of fiction by American citizens in a calendar year. Three judges, chosen annually by the directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, select five books from among the more than 300 works submitted, making this the largest peer-juried award in the country. The winning writer and four finalists are honored at a ceremony held in Washington at the Folger Shakespeare Library in May.

Submission Guidelines

• Publishers (trade, university, or small presses), agents, or authors may submit books published in 2008 by living American writers.
• Authors must be American citizens.
• Four copies of each title should be mailed to the following address
  by OCTOBER 31, 2008:
  PEN/Faulkner Foundation
  ATTN: Jessica Neely
  201 East Capitol St., SE
  Washington, DC 20003
• There are no submission fees or application forms.
• PEN/Faulkner Foundation does not accept self-published books. The final selections are made by the judges in early spring.

The award was founded by members of the international writers’ organization PEN and is now governed by an independent foundation board. The budget for the award and its administration is funded by gifts and grants. We are always grateful for support of the award and of other PEN/Faulkner programs.