We are pleased to introduce the mentors for this year's Emerging Voices fellowship.

Ramona Ausubel’s novel, No One is Here Except All of Us, was published by Riverhead Books in 2012. It was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and was named a Best Book of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Huffington Post.  Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review Daily, One Story, and The Best American Fantasy and shortlisted in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Non-Required Reading. Ausubel’s short-story collection, A Guide to Being Born, will be published by Riverhead in 2013.

Meghan Daum has been an opinion columnist at The Los Angeles Times since 2005. She has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, Harper's, and Vogue, and is the author of three books, most recently the memoir Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House.

Harryette Mullen is the author of several poetry collections including Recyclopedia, winner of a PEN Beyond Margins Award, and Sleeping with the Dictionary, a finalist for a National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her poems have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Polish, German, Swedish, Danish, Turkish, and Bulgarian. She teaches American poetry, African American literature, and creative writing at UCLA. A collection of her essays and interviews, The Cracks Between What We Are and What We Are Supposed to Be, was published by University of Alabama Press in 2012. Her Tanka Diary is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2013.

People ineligible for the Emerging Voices program:

• Those who have a B.A. in English with a Creative Writing Emphasis or an M.A., M.F.A., or Ph.D. in Creative Writing.
• Students currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate degree programs.
• Those who are Professional PEN Center USA members.
• Writers who are widely published or have recent noteworthy writing awards.
• People who have books published and former or current professional magazine/newspaper writers or editors.
• Anyone under the age of 18.

Emerging Voices is a rigorous fellowship program based in Los Angeles with weekly meetings and an intense reading and writing schedule. Participants should be willing and able to make an enthusiastic commitment to the program and to their involvement as members of a group. If you are not a resident of Los Angeles and you are awarded the fellowship you will need to relocate for the eight-month program. Housing is not provided.
If offered a place in the fellowship, you may not defer acceptance for another year. If you are not awarded a fellowship, we encourage you to reapply if interested.

MENTORS: Mentors are carefully chosen from PEN’s membership of professional writers based on shared writing interests with each fellow. The mentor-fellow relationship is expected to challenge the fellow's work and compel significant creative progress. Over the course of the program, EVs and mentors should meet three times in person, and be in contact at least once a month. In these meetings, mentors will offer feedback on the EV fellows’ work in progress.

UCLA EXTENSION WRITERS’ PROGRAM: Participants will attend two free courses at UCLA Extension, donated by the Writers’ Program. Program and PEN staff will assist EV fellows with course selection. Fellows will also have access to the UCLA libraries.

AUTHOR EVENINGS: A schedule of Q & A evenings with prominent authors, poets, editors, agents, and publishers will be distributed at the first EV orientation meeting. Fellows must read each visiting author's book before the evening.

MASTER CLASSES: After completing the UCLA Extension courses, EV fellows will enroll in a PEN master class. The master class is a four-session, genre-specific workshop with a professional writer that affords fellows the opportunity to exchange feedback on their works in progress.

VOLUNTEER PROJECT: All fellows are expected to complete a 25-hour volunteer project that is relevant to the literary community.

VOICE CLASS: The fellowship will provide a one-day workshop with a professional voice actor. The EV fellows will read their work in a recording studio and receive instruction on reading their work publicly.

FINAL READING: The program culminates in a public reading to showcase the progress each fellow has made in his or her work.

SPECIAL EVENTS: PEN Center USA provides complimentary admission to select events throughout the fellowship.

The Emerging Voices Fellowship originated as a mentorship project. The project grew out of PEN Center USA’s forum “Writing the Immigrant Experience,” held at the Los Angeles Central Library in March 1994, which explored the issues and challenges faced by first and second generation immigrant writers. It was evident from the forum that many of the culturally diverse communities of writers in Southern California were often isolated from the literary establishment. In the fall of 1995, PEN Center USA initiated Emerging Voices as a literary mentorship program designed to launch potential professional writers from minority, immigrant and other underrepresented communities. The program has now evolved into an eight-month writing fellowship for writers who lack access to a traditional writing education and seek financial and creative support.

The Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation was established in 1948 by my parents, a young businessman and his fashion-editor wife, who clearly had a great deal of confidence in their eventual financial success as well as a genuine desire to contribute to the world outside themselves. As my father formulated it in the beginning, “Individuals fortunate enough to receive unusual benefits from a society have the distinct obligation to return meaningful, tangible support to that society—in the form of creative energy as well as funding.”

What this has meant over the years is a pattern of rewarding excellence and accomplishment by giving awards in the fields of medicine, art and literature. In the last several decades, as the younger generation has begun to have more of a say, the goal has modulated into an emphasis on more directly encouraging excellence and accomplishment—by funding programs as well as awards, thus concentrating on setting up structures for achievement, and utilizing the multiplier effect.

– Jamie Wolf

The 2014 Emerging Voices application period is now open. You may download the application here.

Do I need to live in the Los Angeles area to apply to the Emerging Voices Fellowship?

You must be a US citizen or have the correct documentation to apply to the EV Fellowship. However, all fellows must live in Los Angeles or close enough to commute to Los Angeles for the duration of the program. No funds are available for relocation.

Are there any age restrictions?

The EV Fellowship is open to all writers over the age of 18.

Can I submit work that has been previously published?

Yes, if you feel it is the work that best represents you as a writer.

Can you help me decide what work to submit as my writing sample?

No, although we do strongly encourage you to submit writing that corresponds to your project proposal. Also, please submit work that corresponds to your genre. This allows the selection committee to gain a better understanding of your project and how you and your work could benefit from the fellowship.

How should the manuscript be formatted?

Fiction and nonfiction manuscripts should be double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins all around. You may format poetry manuscripts however you feel best represents the poetry you are submitting, as long as you do not exceed the page limit and the typed font is legible. Please number your pages.

What does the selection committee look for in a manuscript?

A strong writing sample. The best advice we can give is to seek the advice of other writers and instructors when preparing your manuscript.

When are applicants notified of the committee's decision?

All applicants will be notified two months after the close of the application period.

Can you give me feedback on my manuscript or tell me why I wasn't selected for the fellowship?

We cannot provide any comments on manuscripts or on applications submitted.

On the short answer section of the Emerging Voices application, it states you may use up to 500 words for each answer. Does this mean 500 words for each answer or 500 words for all nine questions combined?

It states each response can be up to 500 words maximum. That means each response for each individual question may be up to 500 words, not 500 words for all nine responses.

I write screenplays/graphic novels/children's books. Am I eligible?
The accepted genres for the Emerging Voices Fellowship are fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. All classes, mentors, and programming for the fellowship are based on one of these three genres. Many alumni have gone on to pursue careers in graphic novels, performance art, and screenwriting, but concentrated on either prose or poetry for the duration of the fellowship.

PLEASE REMEMBER: No FED EX or UPS packages.

You must use only non-signature mail.
Your manuscript must be double-spaced, with 1-inch margins, 12-point Times New Roman font.
Letters of recommendation must be signed.
SASEs accepted.

You can learn about the 2012 Emerging Voices fellows here, and watch the video of the 2011 Final Reading. The Mark is a rigorous manuscript finishing school for Emerging Voices alumni. Visit the Mark page and The Mark Blog to learn more.