It’s that time of year again 📣 The Pen Parentis Writing Fellowship for New Parents is officially open (March 1–April 17), and this year the prize is doubled thanks to the @degrootfoundation .
One parent of a child under 10 will receive $2,000, a year of mentorship, publication in Dreamers Creative Writing Magazine, and a Fall 2026 salon reading. Second and third prizes receive cash awards and join our Cycle of Support.
Here’s the challenge: write something new. Unpublished fiction. Any genre. 440 words max.
Short on purpose. Because you’re busy. Because constraints can sharpen a story. Because sometimes the most electric work comes from the tightest window of time.
Our current Fellow, Ellen Stearns, started with those same 440 words.
If you’ve been waiting for a nudge, this is it.
Guidelines + submission details on our site!
Online reading with Pen Parentis, Tuesday.
May 12 • 7 PM - 8:15 PM EDT / SPRING 2026 PEN PARENTIS CLOSER Featuring: Steven Dunn / Suzanne Kamata / John Reed / Hannah Thurman • Moderators: M. M. De Voe & Marina Aris
/e/your-writing-career-through-a-parenting-lens-readings-author-discussion-registration-1980889832814
I'll be reading from Year of Valentines, which is ready to order! Would be thrilled if you read the poems and shared your thoughts with me or online. If you'd like to review on Amazon 😬, that makes a big difference in the algorithm, and I'd be very grateful.
Bookshop: /.../year-of.../889cfaf4cfdcfc39
Amazon: /Year-Valentines.../dp/1963908775...
Spuyten Duyvil: /Year-of-Valentines.html
✨️April Featured Author✨️
Chital Mehta's manuscript, 'HAVE YOU SEEN ROMIT?' has been chosen as the winner of the 2025 James Alan McPherson Prize for the Novel, judged by R. O. Kwon. Her book is scheduled for release in October 2026 by the University of Nebraska Press. Her short stories have appeared in The Pinch, Oyez Review, SLAB magazine, and elsewhere. She won the Boggs Fiction contest 2022 for her story - Damaged Gifts. Her story, "The Weight of Happiness," was a Finalist for the Pinch Literary Awards 2022 - Fiction. Her stories often center around displacement and belonging. She is an alum of Tin House and VONA.
She holds an MFA from Lindenwood University. She lives in Delaware with her husband and children, where she is working on her next novel and a collection of short stories about Asian immigrants.
Help us welcome Chital to the Pen Parentis stage today at 7pm ET.
✨️April Featured Author✨️
Len Lawson is author of New Names for Stars, winner of the Lit Fox Award (Lit Fox Books, forthcoming 2026), Negro Asylum for the Lunatic Insane (Main Street Rag, 2023), and Chime (Get Fresh Books, 2019). He is also editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry (Blair Press, 2021) and Hand in Hand: Poets Respond to Race (Muddy Ford Press, 2017). He has received fellowships from Tin House Summer Workshop, Palm Beach Poetry Festival, Callaloo Barbados, Vermont Studio Center, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts among others. His poetry appears in African American Review, Callaloo, Mississippi Review, Ninth Letter, Verse Daily, and has been translated internationally. Len earned a PhD in English Literature and Criticism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in Creative Writing at Queens University of Charlotte. Born and living in South Carolina, he is Director of African American Studies and Assistant Professor of English at Newberry College.
Help us welcome Len back to the Pen Parentis stage this coming Tuesday at 7pm ET.
✨️April Featured Author✨️
Fred Moten teaches performance studies at New York University. He has written a number of books of poetry and criticism, the most recent of which are consent not to be a single being (Duke University Press, 2017, 2018) and Perennial Fashion Presence Falling (Wave Books, 2023). Moten is now primarily engaged in a set of ongoing collaborations. He and Stefano Harney are co-authors of three books the most recent of which is All Incomplete (Minor Compositions/Autonomedia, 2021). He is a member of the interdisciplinary arts collective Moved by the Motion and under its auspices is co-author, with Wu Tsang, of Who touched me? (If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want to be Part of Your Revolution, 2016). Moten frequently accompanies bassist Brandon López. Their latest album is Revision (Tao Forms Records, 2025). Moten works on all of this with his comrade Laura Harris and their children Julian and Lorenzo.
Help us welcome Fred to the Pen Parentis stage this coming Tuesday at 7pm ET.
Pen Parentis Spring 2026 Literary Salon: “Reimagination and Reclamation”
April 14, 2026
Fred Moten, Chital Mehta, and Len Lawson (returning) share readings and join in conversation, moderated by M. M. De Voe and Marina Aris.
A gathering of writers who are also parents, moving between reading and reflection, with audience conversation on craft, creative practice, and the realities of sustaining a writing life across seasons of care and work.
Second Tuesday salon. All are welcome: penparentis.eventbrite.com
With gratitude to our sponsors for making this work possible: NYSCA, The DeGroot Foundation, and The Poetry Foundation
Pen Parentis at The Writers Room: tonight we’re bringing together leaders, creators, and writer-parent change makers for an evening that honors dedication to talent and celebrates Pen Parentis’ influence.
It's a shared moment to connect, enjoy, and be part of something memorable.Writers and their allies are invited to attend. Friends welcome with RSVP.
Readings by Anne Hellman, Bruce Morrow, S F Hayes, Laura Cronk, and Daniel Arthur Smith.
📍 The Writers Room, 740 Broadway (7th Floor), NYC
🕒 6:30 PM tonight
Thrilled to be part of a recent Pen Parentis Salon - a panel of writers who are also parents!
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How do working writers manage parenthood?
Successful authors address issues of work-life balance, writing craft, current publishing landscape, and read excerpts from their works.
@penparentis Spring 2026 Season Opener “FLUID BOUNDARIES” features:
✨Ching-In Chen, Winner of Judith A. Markowitz Award, Lambda Literary
✨Priya Hutner, Co-Founder of the Tahoe Literary Festival
✨Lane Igoudin, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow, EPIC / UCLA Humanities
✨Terese Svoboda, Guggenheim Fellow and the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize Winner
✨Moderators: M. M. De Voe and Marina Aris
Taped: February 10, 2026
🎥: https://youtu.be/JnZGuUMiEqo
Funded by generous support from Poets & Writers, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, The de Groot Foundation, and the episode sponsor Studiolo Secondari - THANK YOU!
All Pen Parentis programs help writers who have kids. We build and support in-person and online writer-parent communities to encourage the production of new, high-quality written work, and we offer individual aid to these writers whenever possible.
🎥: https://youtu.be/JnZGuUMiEqo
@femmekafka@priyahutner@chinginchen #penparentis #ooliganpress #parentwriter #literarysalon writinglif
Ready to give your manuscript the attention it deserves? Our Spring Cleaning Editing Sprint, led by Taylor Hobbs, begins March 19. This focused editing intensive is designed for writers who already have a complete manuscript and want structured time and support to revise.
Participants will move through a guided sprint designed to help you clarify, refine, and strengthen your draft alongside other committed writers.
• Starts March 19
• Limited to a small cohort
• $100 registration
• Sustaining PP members receive 15% off
There are 15 seats left. Join us and give your manuscript the focused revision time it needs this spring.
Registration is open now on Zeffy.
We’re excited to announce that submissions are opening for the Paris Writers Residency Scholarship, sponsored by PP.
This opportunity is designed for writers with complete manuscripts who are ready to deepen their work in an immersive creative environment. The scholarship supports a writer attending the Paris residency and continuing the development of their manuscript in an inspiring international setting.
If you have a finished manuscript and are looking for the next step in your writing journey, we encourage you to apply.
Submissions are open shortly on Submittable until March 24th.
What happens to a writer’s creative life when they become a parent? What changes, what disappears, and what unexpectedly deepens?
Join us for “The Things They Leave Us,” a literary salon featuring readings and conversation with Janet Constantino, Caroline Grant, Stewart Lewis, and Amanda Johnston.
The evening will include short readings followed by an honest conversation about sustaining a creative practice alongside family life, plus time for audience questions.
Tuesday, March 10 · 7pm ET
Online
If you’re a writer with kids, thinking about it, or simply curious about how artists make space for their work, come spend the evening with us.
Register through the link in bio.
It’s the final day of AWP and we’re closing out the conference with more author signings at Booth T734.
If you haven’t stopped by yet, today’s the perfect time to meet these wonderful writers and connect with the Pen Parentis community before the conference wraps up.
