PEN America and Jean Stein Partner Up to Launch a New Grant and a New Award

By Maryann Yin 

PEN America Logo 200 (GalleyCat)PEN America will launch two new ventures: the PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Oral History and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award.

According to the press release, Jean Stein, an oral historian, has agreed the provide the funding for both of these endeavors. The annual PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Oral History “will award $10,000 to support the completion of a literary work of nonfiction that uses oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement.”

The annual PEN/Jean Stein Book Award will be given to an author who has written an innovative book that breaks new ground in literature. This award comes with $75,000 in prize money. It “will be among the largest literary prizes in the U.S., as well as the largest prize offered by PEN.”