PEN/Gregory Kolovakos Award for Expansion of Hispanic Literature to an English-Language Audience

The PEN/Gregory Kolovakos Award ($2000), established in 1992 and awarded triennially, honored an American literary translator, editor, or critic whose work, in meeting the challenge of cultural difference, extends Gregory Kolovakos’s commitment to the richness of Hispanic literature and to expanding its English-language audience. Kolovakos, a translator and Director of the Literature Program at the New York State Council on the Arts, was long active on PEN’s Translation Committee and served as Chair of the PEN Fund for Writers and Editors with AIDS until his death in 1990.

The award’s primary purpose was to recognize work from Spanish, but distinguished contributions from the other languages of the Hispanic world were also considered. The Gregory Kolovakos Award was established by Council members, the staff of the New York State Council on the Arts, the friends and colleagues of Gregory Kolovakos, and received additional support from Editorial Atlántida.