PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography

The PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography is awarded for excellence in the art of biography. This prize of $5,000 goes to the author of a distinguished work published in the United States and considered by the judges to be a work of exceptional literary, narrative, and artistic merit based on scrupulous research.

All winners, finalists, and longlisted books are eligible to receive PEN America’s official emblems. If you are a publisher interested in obtaining a PEN America award emblem for use on a book cover, please write to [email protected]. 

For more information about PEN America’s Literary Awards, please visit our FAQ. 

2026 Winner

For a biography of exceptional literary, narrative, and artistic merit, based on scrupulous research.

Winner: Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Judges: Aidan Levy, Pamela Newkirk, Benjamin Taylor

From the judges’ citation: “Compellingly written and exhaustively researched, Nicholas Boggs’ Baldwin: A Love Story—twenty years in the making—braids blues-toned prose with piercing critical insights gleaned from interviews and hitherto unknown archival material to redefine Baldwin’s place in the literary canon and in the Black radical and queer traditions. Traversing cosmopolitan worlds from New York to Istanbul and across France, Boggs brings Baldwin’s great loves out of the shadows, illuminating the inspiration for some of his most iconic work. In the process Boggs distills Baldwin’s life into a heart-throbbing “memory of love” that echoes through the ages. A landmark achievement.”

Eligibility

• Eligible titles must be published between January 1 and December 31 of the current calendar year by a U.S. trade publisher.
• Eligible books must be written by a single, living author.
• Candidates need NOT be U.S. residents or citizens.
• Books must be works about the life of another person. Memoir and autobiography are ineligible, unless the work significantly focuses on another person.
• Books submitted for this award may not be submitted for any additional PEN America Literary Awards, with the exception of the PEN Open Book Award. Please note that the PEN/Faulkner and PEN/Hemingway Awards are not considered PEN America Literary Awards

Submission Guidelines

• All submitted books must be published by a trade or academic publisher between January 1 and December 31 of the current year. Self-published books are ineligible for the PEN America Literary Awards.
• Books with more than one original author are ineligible for the PEN America Literary Awards.
• PEN America will only accept submissions from publishers or literary agents. Authors may not submit their own books.
• Please be sure to select the award you are submitting to on the submission form.
• Submitting a book for multiple awards is allowed only in the case of the PEN Open Book Award. Please complete a separate submission for this award if applicable.
• Please submit verified email addresses on the submission form. Your order cannot be processed without an email address. Multiple addresses are essential so that we can get in touch directly if an author or translator is selected as a longlister, finalist, or winner.
• Upload a PDF file of the galley or final manuscript to the book submission form. Book award submissions will be read as PDF files. Please upload the file saved as BOOKTITLE_AUTHORNAME. For the judges’ ease of reading, please upload a book file WITHOUT watermarks. Each book file will remain confidential and is accessible only to the Literary Awards team and the awards judges. Please note that if a book is longlisted, PEN America may request physical copies for the judging panel.
• Upload a high-resolution image of the book cover. This will be used if the book is a longlister, finalist, or winner.
• Each submission is $85. Submission fees are not refundable. Please note that all payments must be made via the submission form.
• Submission fees may be waived for publishers whose annual net sales are less than $2 million. You may request an exemption here; a letter on company letterhead stating that the press’s annual net sales are less than $2 million is required. Do not submit your title before requesting your fee exemption, as the Literary Awards Team will provide you with an alternative submission method.
• Once a submitted book is received and reviewed for eligibility by PEN America, it will be passed along to the judges. Please add [email protected] to your address book, as it will be the main point of contact from PEN America.