About the programme
English PEN hosts both respite and output-focused residencies for writers under pressure or experiencing displacement in the UK. We aim to provide our guest writers with the time and space to rest, write, and recuperate.
We currently run three kinds of residencies:
- Five-day residencies for writers experiencing displacement to the UK, during and after which these authors create new short non-fiction for our literary magazine PEN Transmissions. These residents are selected through an open call.
- Five-day respite residencies for writers in the UK who are facing ongoing pressure. These writers are selected by English PEN in consultation with expert colleagues and are not open for applications.
- A residency with an international writer facing ongoing pressure and limits to their capacity to write. These writers are selected by English PEN in consultation with expert colleagues and are not open for applications.
“The greatest gift of the residency was permission: permission to slow down, to listen, and to give writing the time it quietly asks for. I arrived with an idea and left with something much bigger, the confidence to call myself a writer.”
Mahtab GrimshawFormer residents
The programme is not currently open for applications.