The PEN/Faulkner Foundation

Our Mission

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation celebrates literature and fosters connections between readers and writers to enrich and inspire both individuals and communities.

Read our annual Report

Our Values

We are dedicated to the notion that our culture thrives when stories from a diverse variety of perspectives enrich our daily lives and when no voices are excluded from our conversations.

We believe the written word plays an essential role in contributing to civil discourse and in creating empathy within and among communities.

Read our annual Report

OUR HISTORY

Celebrating literature, enriching our community

The work of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation began in 1980, when National Book Award-winner Mary Lee Settle set out to create the largest annual peer-juried prize for fiction in the United States. The award was named for William Faulkner, who had used his Nobel Prize funds to establish a prize for younger writers, and PEN, the international writers’ organization.

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Our Staff

Our Board Members

Directors Emeriti

Mary Lee Settle, Founder

Conrad Cafritz
Thomas Caplan

H.G. Carrillo
Stephen Goodwin
Nick Kotz
Beverly Lowry
Tracy McGillivary

E. Ethelbert Miller
Azar Nafisi
Frazier O’Leary
George Pelecanos
Diane Rehm

Susan Shreve
Susan Stamberg
Lou Stovall
Mary Kay Zuravleff

Mary Lee Settle, Founder

Conrad Cafritz
Thomas Caplan
H.G. Carrillo
Stephen Goodwin
Nick Kotz
Beverly Lowry
Tracy McGillivary
E. Ethelbert Miller
Azar Nafisi
Frazier O’Leary
George Pelecanos
Diane Rehm
Susan Shreve
Susan Stamberg
Lou Stovall
Mary Kay Zuravleff

Voices from PEN/Faulkner

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