PEN America is honored to announce the Longlists for the 2026 Literary Awards. Our awards are juried by panels of esteemed, award-winning authors, editors, translators, and critics. These authors are committed to recognizing their contemporaries, from promising debut writers to those who have already had a continuous and lasting impact on the literary landscape.
The 2026 Literary Awards will confer nearly $350,000 to writers and translators. Spanning fiction, poetry, essay, translation, and more, these Longlisted books are dynamic, diverse, and thought-provoking examples of literary excellence.Finalists for the following awards will be announced before the ceremony. We hope you can join us at the 2026 Literary Awards Ceremony in March 2026!
PEN/Jean Stein Book Award ($75,000)
To a book-length work of any genre for its originality, merit, and impact, which has broken new ground by reshaping the boundaries of its form and signaling strong potential for lasting influence.
Judges: Forrest Gander, Pam Houston, Morgan Talty, Kawai Strong Washburn
UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE, Catharina Coenen (Restless Books)
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The Devil Is a Southpaw, Brandon Hobson (HarperCollins)
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Things in Nature Merely Grow, Yiyun Li (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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Drome, Jesse Lonergan (Macmillan)
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SURVIVA: A Future Ancestral Field Guide, Cannupa Hanska Luger (Ayin Press)
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Immemorial, Lauren Markham (Transit Books)
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The Antidote, Karen Russell (Penguin Random House)
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Into the Hush, Arthur Sze (Copper Canyon Press)
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Carbonate of Copper, Roberto Tejada (Fordham University Press)
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The Pelican Child, Joy Williams (Penguin Random House)
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PEN Open Book Award ($10,000)
To an exceptional book-length work of any literary genre by an author of color.
Judges: Reyna Grande, Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint, Asako Serizawa, Michael X. Wang
Old School Indian, Aaron John Curtis (Hillman Grad Books)
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The Devil Three Times, Rickey Fayne (Hachette Book Group)
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Ibis, Justin Haynes (Abrams)
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Natural History, Brandon Kilbourne (Graywolf Press)
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Awake in the Floating City, Susanna Kwan (Penguin Random House)
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Cold Thief Place, Esther Lin (Alice James Books)
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Make Your Way Home, Carrie R. Moore (Tin House)
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Medicine River, Mary Annette Pember (Penguin Random House)
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Asian/Other: Life, Poems, and the Problem of Memoir, Vidyan Ravinthiran (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.)
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No Rhododendron, Samyak Shertok (University of Pittsburgh Press)
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PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection ($25,000)
To an author whose debut collection of short stories represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise for future work.
Judges: Sidik Fofana, Aimee LaBrie, Jasmine Sawers
Show Me Where the Hurt Is, Hayden Casey (Split/Lip Press)
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Bear County, Michigan, John Counts (Northwestern University Press/TriQuarterly)
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The Lowest Basin: Arizona Stories, Jonathan Danielson (Cowboy Jamboree Press)
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On Earth as it is in Heaven, Vishwas R. Gaitonde (Orison Books)
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The Continental Divide, Bob Johnson (Cornerstone Press)
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Guatemalan Rhapsody, Jared Lemus (Ecco)
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When We Were Hardcore, Linda Michel-Cassidy (EastOver Press)
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Lost in the Forest of Mechanical Birds, Christian Moody (Dzanc Books)
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There’s Nothing Left For You Here, Allegra Solomon (Four Way Books)
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The Great Grown Up Game of Make Believe, Lauren Woods (Autumn House Press)
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PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection ($5,000)
To a poet whose distinguished collection of poetry represents a notable and accomplished literary presence.
Judges: Dorianne Laux, Tracie Morris, dg nanouk okpik, Paisley Rekdal, Craig Teicher
Death Does Not End at the Sea, Gbenga Adesina (University of Nebraska Press)
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Green of All Heads, Aracelis Girmay (BOA Editions)
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Penitential Cries, Susan Howe (New Directions Publishing)
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New and Collected Hell, Shane McCrae (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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For Lack of a Dictionary, Rosalind Morris (Fordham University Press)
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The Seeds, Cecily Parks (Alice James Books)
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Blue Opening, Chet’la Sebree (Tin House)
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A Chronology of Blood, Teo Shannon (University of New Mexico Press)
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Intentions of Thunder, Patricia Smith (Scribner)
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Rodeo, Sunni Brown Wilkinson (Autumn House Press)
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PEN Award for Poetry in Translation ($3,000)
For a book-length translation of poetry from any language into English.
Judges: Miriam Calleja, Jim Kates, Alta L. Price
Concerning the Angels, Rafael Alberti (Four Way Books)
Translated from Spanish by John Murillo
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I Have Brought You a Severed Hand, Ghayath Almadhoun (Action Books)
Translated from Arabic by Catherine Cobham
Asterism Books
The Invisible Sun, Attar (HarperCollins)
Translated from Persian by Sholeh Wolpe
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For now I am sitting here growing transparent, Yau Ching (Zephyr Press)
Translated from Chinese by Chenxin Jiang
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At the Same Time: New and Selected Poems, Wang Jiaxin (Arrowsmith Press LLC)
Translated from Chinese by John Balcom
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Wickerwork, Christian Lehnert (Archipelago Books)
Translated from German by Richard Sieburth
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Poet in the New World: Poems, 1946–1953, Czeslaw Milosz (HarperCollins)
Translated from Polish by Robert Haas
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Theory of the Voice and Dream, Liliana Ponce (World Poetry Books)
Translated from Spanish by Michael Martin Shea
Asterism Books
At the Edge: Selected Political Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva, Marina Tsvetaeva (Green Linden Press)
Translated from Russian by Margaree Little
Asterism Books
Good & Safe, Liesl Ujvary (World Poetry Books)
Translated from German by Ann Cotten and Anna-Isabella Dinwoodie
Asterism Books
PEN Translation Prize ($3,000)
For a book-length translation of prose from any language into English.
Judges: Jenny Bhatt Gujarati, Ron Meyer, Damion Searls
Exophony, Yoko Tawada
Translated from Japanese by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda (New Directions Publishing)
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Free Ride, Noraly Schoenmaker
Translated from Dutch by Bo-Elise Brummelkamp (Atria Books)
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The Leucothea Dialogues, Cesare Pavese
Translated from Italian by Minna Zallman Proctor (Archipelago Books)
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Mothers, Brenda Lozano
Translated from Spanish by Heather Cleary (Catapult Book Group)
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On the Calculation of Volume (Book III), Solvej Balle
Translated from Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell (New Directions Publishing)
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The Remembered Soldier, Anjet Daanje
Translated from Dutch by David McKay (New Vessel Press)
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Río Muerto, Ricardo Silva Romero
Translated from Spanish by Victor Meadowcroft (World Editions)
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The River, Laura Vinogradova
Translated from Latvian by Kaija Straumanis (Open Letter)
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Sons and Daughters, Chaim Grade
Translated from Yiddish by Rose Waldman (Penguin Random House)
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Your Steps on the Stairs, Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from Spanish by Curtis Bauer (Other Press)
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PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay ($15,000)
For a seasoned writer whose collection of essays is an expansion on their corpus of work and preserves the distinguished art form of the essay.
Judges: Charles D’Ambrosio, Vanessa Mobley, Mark Slouka
Culture Creep: Notes on the Pop Apocalypse, Alice Bolin (HarperCollins)
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Out There in the Dark, Katharine Coldiron (Autofocus Books)
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Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974–, Jamaica Kincaid (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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Pathemata, Or, The Story of My Mouth, Maggie Nelson (Wave Books)
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The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich, Evan Osnos (Scribner)
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Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening, Ben Ratliff (Graywolf Press)
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Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader, Sue William Silverman (University of Nebraska Press)
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Delusions and Grandeur, Mark Sundeen (University of New Mexico Press)
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Jazz June: A Self-Portrait in Essays, Clifford Thompson (University of Georgia Press)
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Languages of Home: Essays on Writing, Hoop, and American Lives 1975–2025, John Edgar Wideman (Scribner)
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PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award ($10,000)
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.
Judges: Dan Falk, Emily Levesque, Catherine Raven, Lauren Redniss
The Mind Electric: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains, Pria Anand (Atria)
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They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals, Mariah Blake (Penguin Random House)
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The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life, Rob Dunn (Hachette Book Group)
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Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-Creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations, Sam Kean (Hachette Book Group)
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The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships, Nathan H. Lents (HarperCollins)
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Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth, Karen G. Lloyd (Princeton University Press)
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Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us, Herman Pontzer PhD (Penguin Random House)
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Strata: Stories from Deep Time, Laura Poppick (W. W. Norton & Company)
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Evergreen: The Trees that Shaped America, Trent Preszler (Little, Brown and Company)
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Beyond Limits: Stories of Third-Trimester Abortion Care, Shelley Sella, MD (Beacon Press)
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PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography ($5,000)
For a biography of exceptional literary, narrative, and artistic merit, based on scrupulous research.
Judges: Aidan Levy, Pamela Newkirk, Benjamin Taylor
Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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Henry James Comes Home: Rediscovering America in the Gilded Age by Peter Brooks (New York Review Books)
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Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford by Carla Kaplan (Harper)
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Ellmann’s Joyce: The Biography of a Masterpiece and Its Maker by Zachary Leader (Harvard University Press)
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When Caesar Was King: How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy by David Margolick (Schocken)
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Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live by Susan Morrison (Random House)
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Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life by Dan Nadel (Scribner)
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Stan and Gus: Art, Ardor, and the Friendship That Built the Gilded Age by Henry Wiencek (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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Toni at Random by Dana A. Williams (Amistad)
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Electric Spark: The Enigma of Dame Muriel by Frances Wilson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction ($10,000)
For a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective that illuminates important contemporary issues.
Judges: Reza Aslan, Beth C. Caldwell, Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Donovan X. Ramsey, Angela Saini
Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, Peter Beinart (Alfred A. Knopf)
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A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis, Jeanne Carstensen (Atria)
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The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America, David A. Graham (Penguin Random House)
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America, América: A New History of the New World, Greg Grandin (Penguin Random House)
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The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery, Siddharth Kara (St. Martin’s Publishing Group)
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Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity, Joseph Lee (Atria)
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On Antisemitism: A Word in History, Mark Mazower (Penguin Random House)
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We Survived the Night, Julian Brave NoiseCat (Penguin Random House)
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Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children, Noliwe Rooks (Penguin Random House)
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In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space, Irvin Weathersby Jr. (Penguin Random House)
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