Awards

For a book-length work of any genre for its originality, merit, and impact. Previous winners include Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Friday Black (2019) and Layli Long Soldier’s WHEREAS (2018). Please note that candidates for this award are nominated internally by a panel of judges. Learn more >>

For achievement in international literature, multi-genre. Previous winners include Sandra Cisneros (2019), Edna O’Brien (2018), and Adonis (2017). Learn more >>

For an exceptional book-length work of any genre by a writer of color. Previous winners include Nafissa Thompson-Spires’ Heads of the Colored People (2019) and Alexis Okeowo’s A Moonless, Starless Sky (2018). Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Submission Form

For an exceptional debut short story collection. Previous winners include Will Mackin’s Bring Out the Dog (2019) and Jenny Zhang’s Sour Heart (2018). Learn more >>Eligibility and Submission Form »

For debut short stories published in a literary magazine or cultural website in 2019. Each of the 12 winners receives a $2,000 cash prize and publication in Catapult’s annual anthology, The PEN America Best Debut Short Stories. Learn more >>Eligibility and Submission Form »

Recognizing a poet whose distinguished and growing body of work to date represents a notable and accomplished presence in American literature. Nominations are requested from Professional Members of PEN America. Previous winners include Kamau Brathwaite and Ed Roberson. Learn more >>

For an exemplary book of individual essays, exploring one specific theme or a range of subjects, published in 2019. Previous winners include Michelle Tea’s Against Memoir (2019) and Ursula K LeGuin’s No Time to Spare (2018). Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Submission Form

For a work that exemplifies literary excellence on the subject of the physical or biological sciences and communicates complex scientific concepts to a lay audience. Previous winners include Ben Goldfarb’s Eager: The Surprising, Secret Lie of Beavers and Why They Matter (2019) and Lindsey Fitzharris’s The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine (2018). Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Submission Form

For a biography of exceptional literary, narrative, and artistic merit, based on scrupulous research. Previous winners include Imani Perry’s Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry (2019) and John A. Farrell’s Richard Nixon: The Life (2018). Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Submission Form

For a book-length translation of poetry from any language into English published in 2019. Previous winners include Richard Sieburth’s translation of A Certain Plume (2019) and Simon Armitage’s translation of Pearl: A New Verse Translation (2017). Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Submission Form

For a book-length translation of prose from any language into English published in 2019. Previous winners include Martin Aitken’s translation of Love, by Hanne Ørstavik (2019) and Len Rix’s translation of Katalin Street by Magda Szabo (2018). Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Submission Form

For the translation of Paraguayan literature from Spanish or Guarani into English. It is open to both established and emerging Paraguayan writers. The award carries a cash stipend of $3,000 for the living author and another $3,000 is given to the winning translator in order to bring the work to the English-speaking world. Previous winners include Javier Viveros and Nathalia María Echauri Castagnino. Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Submission Form

For a mid-career playwright of great promise. Previous winners include Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Luis Alfaro, Young Jean Lee, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and Sibyl Kempson. Learn more >>

For a writer whose work exemplifies excellence and influence in the world of theater, television, or film. Learn more »

For a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective that illuminates important contemporary issues and that has been published in the United States. Previous winners include Mathew Desmond’s Evicted (2017) and Sheri Fink’s Five Days at Memorial (2015) Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Submission Form

Honoring a magazine editor whose high literary standards and taste have, throughout their career, contributed significantly to the excellence of the publication they edit. Candidates for this biennial award include current editors-in-chief, literary editors, and “back-of-the-book” editors of serious general interest magazines, book reviews, or literary reviews and quarterlies, whose intellectual discernment and wide range of interests recall the late PEN member Nora Magid. Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Nominations

Recognizing the high literary character of the published work to date of a new and emerging American poet of any age and the promise of further literary achievement. Poets nominated for the award may not have published more than one book of poetry. Previous winners include Natalie Scenters-Zapico and Saeed Jones. Learn more >>>> Eligibility and Nominations