PEN/Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History

Previous Recipients

2023

Judges: Alissa Rae Funderburk, Sarah Schulman, Sara Sinclair

Destry Maria Sibley, The Children of Morelia: Child Refugees of the Spanish Civil War

From the judges’ citation: “The Children of Morelia: Child Refugees of the Spanish Civil War by Destry Maria Sibley both addresses a historical void and speaks directly to the moral questions of our contemporary moment. Sibley’s thorough, informed, historically engaging and beautifully written study engages the most relevant element of Spain’s civil war refugee population, a group of 500 children sent in 1937 by their families to safety in Mexico. Anyone reading this vibrant work will immediately think of the large numbers of children, again crossing borders alone, sent off into the world by desperate families who cannot, themselves, get refuge. Sibley’s work is personal because her own grandmother, Rosita, was one of these children. And yet, it is not narcissistic or sentimental. Instead, her work represents six years of active research, including a Fulbright-National Geographic Fellowship. Her extensive oral histories reveal contradictions, disturbing dimensions of reflection, and complex constructions of identity. It also engages Mexico as a site receiving refugees and reveals attitudes about welcoming outsiders in distress. This is an engaging, rich and readable work that makes us think in new and provocative ways about the point of view of nationality, as well as the long-range consequences of child refugees building lives alone in new countries. A promising and insightful work.”

Jason Prokowiew, Raised by Wolves

From the judges’ citation: “This fusion of multigenerational story and global memoir written to reflect the consequences of war on the millions of children displaced by conflict throughout history is 23 years in the making. Using 50 hours of oral history interviews and extensive research from KGB, Belarusian National, and other archives, Jason Prokowiew diligently retraces his father’s unlikely upbringing to illustrate how he survived World War II and eventually became the terrifying parent Prokowiew would ultimately grow to love and forgive. This gripping book, timely for its anti-war and anti-displacement themes, is also relatable because of its nature as a story about the fraught relationship between a parent and child. Prokowiew grounds his narrative about a young boy growing up in a war, inside the story of a son later interviewing his father about that impossible experience. This story, thanks to Prokowiew’s inventiveness, demonstrates the ways in which a single oral history can touch on the lives of many. And Prokowiew’s own self-reflection on the interview process speaks to the possibilities through which any who desire to learn more about themselves and where they come from can do so as well. Who makes us and how they are made, how the stories they tell can shape the way we see them and the world we live in: this is what oral history is about.”

2022

Judges: Crystal Mun-hye Baik, Gracen Brilmyer, Joe Richman

Simar Preet Kaur, A Hyphenway in the Sky
From the judges’ citation: “A work of remarkable creativity and dedication, Simar Preet Kaur’s A Hyphenway in the Sky uncovers a precarious world that few experience or know about: the journeys of truck drivers traveling along India’s Manali-Leh Highway, a 475-kilometer winding road that borders China and Pakistan. An expansive project that encompasses eight years of place-based oral histories conducted with over 300 truck drivers across 91 trips, A Hyphenway in the Sky is a ‘history of truckers and a history of place by truckers.’ Alongside her beautifully wrought writing and captivating photographs, Kaur crafts an ‘on-the-move’ oral history–methodology necessitated by the context of her research, including extreme weather and climate, limited access to resources, and the navigation of gender and class relations. A Hyphenway in the Sky exemplifies all that is possible from an imaginative practice that challenges conventional notions of oral history, while also centering the unique lives and rich stories of India’s truck drivers and a mountainous landscape.”

Deborah Jackson Taffa, Whiskey Tender
From the judges’ citation: “At a historic moment shaped by a global pandemic, extractive economies, and climate catastrophe, Deborah Jackson Taffa’s Whiskey Tender offers a powerful reckoning that centers the experiences of Native peoples in Turtle Island (North America). A creative memoir that interweaves her experiences as a Native woman with stories told by her family, community, and land across Navajo, Yuma, and Laguna Pueblo nations, Taffa’s poetic work examines how settler histories of genocide against Native peoples are intimately entwined with gendered and sexual violence perpetrated against Native women. Whiskey Tender—an original work told through a strong voice full of clarity and pain as well as humor—expresses the vast scale of violence that Native peoples, particularly women, navigate on a daily basis, ranging from the body to community, land, environment, and nation. More than ever, Whiskey Tender is an urgently necessary work that reveals Taffa’s considerable skill as a gifted writer, story gatherer, and storyteller and where, as Taffa shares, ‘remembrance is political.’”

2021

Judges: Chris Abani, Alex Kotlowitz, Alice Wong

Helen Benedict, Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece
From the judges’ citation: “With more displaced people in the world since World War II, Helen Benedict’s Map of Hope and Sorrow feels both timely and necessary. Through the lives of six refugees in Greece, the gateway to Europe, Benedict is chronicling the journey of those fleeing war, hunger, and political persecution. As a journalist, she has made a career of telling other people’s stories. Here though given that the book is about people who have been dispossessed of all that they have, she felt it essential to have them tell their stories in their own words or, as she writes, ‘to retain control over their memories.’ These deeply intimate stories are told with such grace and openness, a testament to Benedict’s skills as an interviewer and journalist.”

Brett Ashley Robinson, Re-Enactment
From the judges’ citation: “Cities and institutions across the country are confronting overdue reckonings from their past. For the city of Philadelphia, the MOVE bombing of 1985 continues to reverberate today. Brett Ashley Robinson’s goal in conducting oral histories from communities impacted by the event isn’t just to preserve and document history—it’s to provide a vehicle for collective reflection and grief. Re-Enactment uses oral histories creatively as a performance and an invitation to share, question, and heal. Robinson’s project goes beyond a single text—it will become a living history as future participants add their stories with access in mind such as an audio version, website, and free printed copies available by mail. This project is truly for the people. Re-Enactment builds community while documenting it.”

2020

Judges: Kate Bernheimer, Heid E. Erdrich, Alessandro Portelli

Sharony Green, The Baa Haas

This manuscript is not under contract. To request a manuscript excerpt, please contact [email protected].

From the judges’ citation: “Dedicated with academic and compassionate care to an underrepresented black population of Bahamian descent in Florida, The Baa Haas beautifully reflects the values of literary oral history. Sharony Green is simply a wonderful storyteller. In the tradition of Zora Neale Hurston’s Every Tongue Got to Confess, The Baa Haas gives the community access to public discourse and gives readers access to an unforgettable history. Here are true stories of the history and reality of a diminishing population. Here is an intersectional story at a time of geographic and economic trauma. As is often the case, the ‘margin’ turns out to be central to our understanding of the world in which we live.”

2019

Judges: Mary Marshall Clark, Paul Ortiz, Pam Sugiman

Loida Maritza Pérez, Beyond the Pale

This manuscript is not under contract. To request a manuscript excerpt, please contact [email protected].

From the judges’ citation: “Loida Maritza Pérez’s beautifully told story of Dominican life, Beyond the Pale, is rooted in her own discovery of her father’s telling of a version of the truth, which she believes until the end of his life was a lie. The natural drama of the father/daughter relationship reveals the dynamic ways in which memory has been manipulated across the generations in the troubled physical and spiritual borderlands between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Perez’s revelation/her journey in recognizing this mistake takes us into the harsh history of colonization and resistance. The unraveling of tall tales demonstrate how important oral traditions, folktales and Santaria itself is ‘as a form of resistance’ in told form. This reminds oral history audiences that the roots of our field is in orality (vs. written texts and highly professionalized transcripts). Additionally, the book is very well written, in a genre that is true to the oral traditions Pérez comes from.”

2018 Nyssa Chow, Still.Life.

2017 Aleksandar Hemon, How Did You Get Here?: Tales of Displacement