What does it mean to be a writer after the prize? “Afterglow: Writing After Recognition” brings together past PEN America Literary Award winners for a candid, insightful conversation on the joys and complexities of literary recognition.
This panel will explore what comes after the confetti, the expectations, the new visibility, the internal shifts, and the ongoing struggle to create meaningful work.
Is it liberating? Is it stifling? Does the validation propel bold risk-taking or introduce new pressures? Do writers become ambassadors for their communities, or lightning rods in the culture wars?
With authors whose work has sparked national conversations, this panel offers a rare glimpse behind the curtain, into the creative, emotional, and afterlife experiences that follow wide recognition.
Participants
JAVIER FUENTES is a Spanish American writer whose debut work of fiction, Countries of Origin: A Novel (Vintage), won the 2024 PEN/Hemingway award. He has received fellowships from Columbia University, Lambda Literary, and the Ucross Foundation. Fuentes has taught at the School of Visual Arts, Columbia University, and Bard College, where he was the inaugural Paris Review visiting professor of literature at the Bard Prison Initiative. Born in Barcelona, he lives in New York.
TORREY PETERS is the bestselling author of the novel Detransition, Baby, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and was named one of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, a finalist for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize, and longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her second book, Stag Dance, was published in March of 2025. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and an M.A. in comparative literature from Dartmouth. She rides a pink motorcycle and splits her time between Brooklyn, New York, and an off-grid cabin in Vermont.
SABIR SULTAN is the director of the World Voices Festival and Literary Programs at PEN America. He has curated literary programs for the past six years. Most recently, he was the Director of Events at The Strand Book Store. Previously, he was an Events Manager at Barnes & Noble. He has a broad background in managing author and publisher relations. He attended Bard College at Simon’s Rock and George Mason University.