PEN America is honored to announce the Finalists for the 2025 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 2025 Literary Awards will confer nearly $350,000 to writers and translators. Spanning fiction, poetry, essay, translation, and more, these books are dynamic, diverse, and thought-provoking examples of literary excellence.
We hope you can join us at the 2025 Literary Awards Ceremony on May 8, 2025!
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: Julie Agoos, Eric Borsuk
Dead in Long Beach, California, Venita Blackburn (MCD)
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With My Back to the World: Poems, Victoria Chang (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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On Freedom, Timothy Snyder (Crown)
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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: Kendra Allen, Cassandra Jackson, Malavika Kannan, Richie Narvaez, Jacinda Townsend
Vengeance Feminism: The Power of Black Women’s Fury in Lawless Times, Kali Nicole Gross (Seal Press)
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The Dark Delight of Being Strange: Black Stories of Freedom, James B. Haile, III (Columbia University Press)
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Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism, Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (Random House)
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The Blueprint, Rae Giana Rashad (Harper)
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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: Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, Leah Hampton, Wendy Wimmer
Softie, Megan Howell (West Virginia University Press)
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I’ll Give You a Reason, Annell López (Feminist Press)
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Japa and Other Stories, Iheoma Nwachukwu (University of Georgia Press)
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The Man in the Banana Trees, Marguerite Sheffer (University of Iowa Press)
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Sad Grownups, Amy Stuber (Stillhouse Press)
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PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel ($10,000)
To a debut novel of exceptional literary merit by an American author.
Judges: Lauren Acampora, Allegra Goodman, Akhil Sharma
Dead in Long Beach, California, Venita Blackburn (MCD)
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Early Sobrieties, Michael Deagler (Astra House)
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Controlled Conversations, Karol Lagodzki (Milford House Press)
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The Road to the Salt Sea, Samuel Kọ́láwọlé (Amistad)
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Catalina, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (Random House)
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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: Carrie Fountain, Laura Kasischke, Maurice Manning, Ander Monson, Sheila Squillante
After Image, Jenny George (Copper Canyon Press)
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Yard Show, Janice N. Harrington (BOA Editions)
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Load in Nine Times, Frank X Walker (Liveright)
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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: Munawwar Abdulla, Curtis Bauer, Suzanne Jill Levine
No One Will Know You Tomorrow, Najwan Darwish (Yale University Press)
Translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid
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Homeland of Swarms, Oriette D’Angelo (co▪im▪press)
Translated from Spanish by Lupita Eyde-Tucker
Asterism
Lost in Living, Halyna Kruk (Lost Horse Press)
Translated from Ukrainian by Dzvinia Orlowsky and Ali Kinsella
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To the Letter, Tomasz Różycki (Archipelago Books)
Translated from Polish by Mira Rosenthal
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Chimera, Phoebe Giannisi (New Directions Press)
Translated from Greek by Brian Sneeden
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PEN Translation Prize ($3,000)
For a book-length translation of prose from any language into English.
Judges: Vincent Kling, Ron Slate, Val Vinokur
The Book Against Death, Elias Canetti
Translated from German by Peter Filkins (New Directions)
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Great Fear on the Mountain, Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
Translated from French by Bill Johnston (Archipelago)
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The Empusium, Olga Tokarczuk
Translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Riverhead Books)
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Planes Flying Over a Monster, Daniel Saldaña
Translated from Spanish by Christina MacSweeney and Philip K. Zimmerman (Catapult)
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Verdigris, Michele Mari
Translated from Italian by Brian Robert Moore (And Other Stories)
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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: Peter Catapano, Adam Davidson, Guy Nordenson
Sing by the Burying Ground, Marianne Boruch (Northwestern University Press)
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A Passing West, Dagoberto Gilb (University of New Mexico Press)
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The Salt of the Universe, Amy Leach (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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My Affair with Art House Cinema, Phillip Lopate (Columbia University Press)
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Magically Black and Other Essays, Jerald Walker (Amistad)
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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: Cat Bohannon, Jordan Ellenberg, Jennifer Raff
The Burning Earth: A History, Sunil Amrith (W. W. Norton & Company)
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Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World, Kelly Clancy (Riverhead Books)
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All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters Today, Elizabeth Comen (Harper)
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The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with Our Wild Neighbors, Erika Howsare (Catapult)
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Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life, Jason Roberts (Random House)
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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: Anna Beer, Dan Charnas, Steve Coll, Joe Jackson
Reagan: His Life and Legend, Max Boot (Liveright)
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Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, Cynthia Carr (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, Keith O’Brien (Pantheon)
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We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience, Lyndsey Stonebridge (Hogarth)
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The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History, Karen Valby (Pantheon)
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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: Julia Angwin, Charles Duhigg, Eve Fairbanks, Kashmir Hill, Anjan Sundaram
The Lucky Ones: A Memoir, Zara Chowdhary (Crown)
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The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq, Steve Coll (Penguin Press)
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The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant LA, Jesse Katz (Astra House)
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In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States, Ana Raquel Minian (Viking)
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