PEN America is honored to announce the Finalists for the 2024 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 had a continuous, lasting impact on the literary landscape.
The list below includes all the Finalists in order to reflect the complete judging process and all original judge selections for public record. A special note is included to acknowledge the authors whose titles were withdrawn.
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: Lupita Aquino, Álvaro Enrigue, Michael Schaub, Tess Taylor
Soil, Camille T. Dungy (Simon & Schuster)
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The following titles have been withdrawn from consideration at the request of the author: Hangman by Maya Binyam on Bookshop, Biography of X by Catherine Lacey on Bookshop, Poem Bitten by a Man by Brian Teare on Bookshop, Blackouts by Justin Torres on Bookshop
The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award page.
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: Megan Cummins, Manuel Muñoz
Temple Folk, Aaliyah Bilal (Simon & Schuster)
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The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories, Stacie Shannon Denetsosie (Torrey House Press)
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I Meant It Once: Stories, Kate Doyle (Algonquin Books)
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I Am My Country, Kenan Orhan (Random House)
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The following titles have been withdrawn from consideration at the request of the author: The Sorrow of Others by Ada Zhang on Bookshop
The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection page.
PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel ($10,000)
To a debut novel of exceptional literary merit.
Judges: Elizabeth Crane, Cleyvis Natera, Charlie Vázquez
Flux, Jinwoo Chong (Melville House Publishing)
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Countries of Origin, Javier Fuentes (Pantheon Books)
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American Gospel, Miah Jeffra (Black Lawrence Press)
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The following titles have been withdrawn from consideration at the request of the author: Promise by Rachel Eliza Griffiths on Bookshop, Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang on Bookshop
The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel page.
PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection ($5,000)
To a poet whose distinguished collection of poetry represents a notable and accomplished literary presence.
Judges: Timothy Donnelly, Deborah Fleming, Rigoberto González, Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Diane Seuss
A Film in Which I Play Everyone, Mary Jo Bang (Graywolf Press)
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Your Kingdom, Eleni Sikelianos (Coffee House Press)
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The following titles have been withdrawn from consideration at the request of the author: Trace Evidence by Charif Shanahan, Couplets by Maggie Millner on Bookshop, suddenly we by Evie Shockley on Bookshop, From From by Monica Youn on Bookshop
The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection page.
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation ($3,000)
For a book-length translation of poetry from any language into English.
Judges: Nancy Naomi Carlson, Matthias Göritz, Dorothy Bonett
Dreaming the Mountain, Tuệ Sỹ (Milkweed Editions)
Translated from the Vietnamese by Nguyen Ba Chung and Martha Collins
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The Blue House: Collected Works of Tomas Tranströmer, Tomas Tranströmer (Copper Canyon Press)
Translated from the Swedish by Patty Crane
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Old Songs, Olga Sedakova (Slant Books)
Translated from the Russian by Martha M. F. Kelly
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How Fire Descends, Serhiy Zhadan (Yale University Press)
Translated from the Ukrainian by Wanda Phipps and Virlana Tkacz
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The Iliad, Homer (W. W. Norton & Company)
Translated from the Ancient Greek by Emily Wilson
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The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation page.
PEN Translation Prize ($3,000)
For a book-length translation of poetry from any language into English.
Judges: Larissa Kyzer, Hanna Leliv, Parisa Saranj, Jenna Tang
Fowl Eulogies, Lucie Rico (World Editions)
Translated from the French by Daria Chernysheva
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Sublunar, Harald Voetmann (New Directions Publishing)
Translated from the Danish by Johanne Sorgenfri Ottosen
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The Torture Camp on Paradise Street, Stanislav Aseyev (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute)
Translated from the Ukrainian by Zenia Tompkins and Nina Murray
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The following titles have been withdrawn from consideration at the request of the translator: Owlish by Dorothy Tse translated from the Chinese by Natascha Bruce on Bookshop, Trash by Sylvia Aguilar-Zéleny translated from the Spanish by J.D. Pluecker on Bookshop
The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN Translation Prize page.
PEN/Open Book Award ($10,000)
To an exceptional book-length work of any literary genre by an author of color.
Judges: Medar de la Cruz, Jenn Givhan, Bonnie Tsui, Anna Malaika Tubbs, Jerald Walker, David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming, Ava Chin (Penguin Press)
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Fire Rush: A Novel, Jacqueline Crooks (Viking)
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The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts: A Novel, Soraya Palmer (Catapult)
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The Bandit Queens: A Novel, Parini Shroff (Ballantine Books)
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The following title has been withdrawn at the request of the author: Where There Was Fire: A Novel, by John Manuel Arias on Bookshop. The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN/Open Book Award page.
PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography
To a poet whose distinguished collection of poetry represents a notable and accomplished literary presence.
Judges: David Blight, Ann McCutchan, James Traub
The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s Double Life, Clare Carlisle (Farrar Straus, and Giroux)
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King: A Life, Jonathan Eig (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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Madonna: A Rebel Life, Mary Gabriel (Little, Brown)
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Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship That Saved Yosemite, Dean King (Scribner)
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Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith, John Szwed (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
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The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography page.
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: David James Duncan, Colleen Kinder
The Deadline: Essays, Jill Lepore (Liveright)
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Love and Industry: A Midwestern Workbook, Sonya Huber (Belt Publishing)
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Holding the Note: Profiles in Music, David Remnick (Alfred A. Knopf)
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Otherwise: Essays, Julie Marie Wade (Autumn House Press)
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The following title has been withdrawn at the request of the author: The Book of More Delights, by Ross Gay on Bookshop.
The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay page.
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: Riley Black, Helen Ouyang, Jonathan Slaght
The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths, Brad Fox (Astra House)
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Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, Ben Goldfarb (W. W. Norton & Company)
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Womb: The Inside Story of How It All Began, Leah Hazard (Ecco Press)
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In the Blood: How Two Outsiders Solved a Centuries-Old Medical Mystery and Took on the US Army, Charles Barber (Grand Central Publishing)
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California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline, Rosanna Xia (Heyday Books)
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The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award page.
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: Andrea Elliott, Scott Ellsworth, Caleb Gayle
We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America, Roxanna Asgarian (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America, Saket Soni (Algonquin Books)
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Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives, Siddarth Kara (St. Martin’s Press)
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Outrage Machine: How Tech Amplifies Discontent, Disrupts Democracy—And What We Can Do About It, Tobias Rose-Stockwell (Legacy Lit)
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Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, John Vaillant (Alfred A. Knopf)
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The selected winning title will be featured on the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction page.
