PEN America is honored to announce the finalists for the 2023 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. You can learn more about the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards judges here.
The 2023 Literary Awards will confer over $350,000 to writers and translators. Spanning fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biography, essay, science writing, translation, and more, these finalists’ books are dynamic, diverse, and thought-provoking examples of literary excellence.
Winners will be announced at the Literary Awards Ceremony on March 2, 2023 at 8pm at The Town Hall in New York City. Tickets available now.
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: Lauren Groff, Joan Naviyuk Kane, Madeleine Thien
Acting Class, Nick Drnaso (Drawn & Quarterly)
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Dr. No, Percival Everett (Graywolf Press)
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Milkweed Smithereens, Bernadette Mayer (New Directions)
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If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, Noor Naga (Graywolf Press)
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The White Mosque, Sofia Samatar (Catapult)
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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: Jenn Baker, Nina McConigley, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Erika L. Sanchez
Shutter, Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime)
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The Black Period, Hafizah Augustus Geter (Random House)
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Gorgoneion, Casey Rocheteau (Noemi Press)
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All the Flowers Kneeling, Paul Tran (Penguin Books)
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Last Summer on State Street, Toya Wolfe (William Morrow & Company)
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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: Susan Muaddi Darraj, Chris Gonzalez, Nafissa Thompson Spires
Seeking Fortune Elsewhere, Sindya Bhanoo (Catapult)
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A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times, Meron Hadero (Restless Books)
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The Anchored World, Jasmine Sawers (Rose Metal Press)
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Night of the Living Rez, Morgan Talty (Tin House Books)
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Manywhere, Morgan Thomas (MCD)
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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: Gina Apostol, Oscar Cásares, Matthew Salesses
Activities of Daily Living, Lisa Hsiao Chen (W. W. Norton & Company)
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Shutter, Ramona Emerson (Soho Crime)
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Calling For a Blanket Dance, Oscar Hokeah (Algonquin Books)
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Little Rabbit, Alyssa Songsiridej (Bloomsbury Publishing)
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Which Side Are You On, Ryan Lee Wong (Catapult)
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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: Molly McCully Brown, Kimiko Hahn, Willie Perdomo, Alison Rollins
Smoking the Bible, Chris Abani (Copper Canyon Press)
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To The Realization of Perfect Helplessness, Robin Coste Lewis (Penguin Random House)
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Pink Waves, Sawako Nakayasu (OmniDawn)
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blood snow, Dg Nanouk Okpik (Wave Poetry)
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Best Barbarian, Roger Reeves (W. W. Norton & Company)
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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: Baba Badji, Mona Kareem, Julia Leverone
The Loose Pearl, Paula Ilabaca Nuñez (Coimpress)
Translated from Spanish by Daniel Borzutzky
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No Way in the Skin without This Bloody Embrace, Jean D’Amérique (Ugly Duckling Presse)
Translated from French by Conor Bracken
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Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season, Forough Farrokhzad (New Directions Publishing)
Translated from Persian by Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr.
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distant transit, Maja Haderlap (Archipelago Books)
Translated from German by Tess Lewis
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Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, Adela Zamudio (Fuente Fountain Books)
Translated from Spanish by Lynette Yetter
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PEN Translation Prize ($3,000)
For a book-length translation of prose from any language into English.
Judges: Layla Benitez-James, Slava Faybysh, Sora Kim-Russell, Elton Uliana
The Tatami Galaxy, Tomihiko Morimi (HarperVia)
Translated from Japanese by Emily Balistrieri
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Call Me Cassandra, Marcial Gala (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Translated from Spanish by Anna Kushner
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Toño the Infallible, Evelio Rosero (New Directions Publishing)
Translated from Spanish by Victor Meadowcroft and Anne McLean
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People from Bloomington, Budi Darma (Penguin Classics)
Translated from Indonesian by Tiffany Tsao
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A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast, Dorthe Nors (Pushkin Press)
Translated from Danish by Caroline Waight
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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: Jill Lepore, John McWhorter, Simon Winchester
Translating Myself and Others, Jhumpa Lahiri (Princeton University Press)
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Still No Word From You, Peter Orner (Catapult)
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Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris (Little, Brown and Company)
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A Left-Handed Woman, Judith Thurman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
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The Green Hour: A Natural History of Home, Alison Townsend (The University of Wisconsin Press)
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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: Tim Folger, David Hu, Emily Raboteau
Vagina Obscura, Rachel E. Gross (W. W. Norton & Company)
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Sounds Wild and Broken, David George Haskell (Viking)
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Big Bang of Numbers, Manil Suri (W. W. Norton & Company)
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Heartbreak, Florence Williams (W. W. Norton & Company)
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An Immense World, Ed Yong (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: Manu Bhagavan, Silvana Paternostro
Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality, Tomiko Brown-Nagin (Pantheon)
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Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm, Dan Charnas (MCD)
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G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, Beverly Gage (Viking)
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Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda, Ruth Harris (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)
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Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century, Jennifer Homans (Random House)
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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: Sanjiv Bhattacharya, Geraldo Cadava, Sofija Stefanovic
The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa’s Racial Reckoning, Eve Fairbanks (Simon & Schuster)
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Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands, Kelly Lytle Hernandez (W. W. Norton & Company)
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South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, Imani Perry (HarperCollinsPublishers)
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The War of Nerves: Inside the Cold War Mind, Martin Sixsmith (Pegasus Books)
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Solito, Javier Zamora (Hogarth Press)
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