When asked to reflect on the Lion’s Head, the legendary West Village tavern, newspaperman Pete Hamill once disputed its reputation as a bar for writers with drinking problems, insisting instead that, “it’s a bar for drinkers with writing problems.”
Something similar might be said for Pen Parentis, the Lower Manhattan-based, literary nonprofit that is not much a support group for parents who want to write as it is a fraternal organization for writers who also want to parent. For the record, the group says its mission is to, “provide critical resources to working writers to keep them on creative track after they start a family.”
In furtherance of that goal, Pen Parentis is now accepting applications for its eighth annual Writing Fellowship For New Parents, which will consider short story submissions now through April 17, and award the winner a $1,000 prize, as well as publication in Brain, Child Magazine — a highly-regarded literary journal which publishes both nonfiction and fiction by parents, about parents and parenting. Applicants must be the parent of at least one child under 10 years of age, but there are no style or genre limitations on the works of fiction submitted for consideration. For more information, please browse the Pen Parentis website at penparentis.org.
The winner will also be invited to read his or her work at next September’s Salon Season Opener, one of the monthly literary gatherings that Pen Parentis holds at Andaz Wall Street, bringing together small groups of working writers creative writers (who happen to also be parents) to present readings. These literary salons have won Pen Parentis a devoted local following, as well as a 2017 Creative Engagement Grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
For more information about the Salons (which are free and open to the public, with refreshments generously sponsored by Andaz Wall Street) or the Pen Parentis Book Club or Writing Fellowship, please visit penparentis.org