Founded in 2016, the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award is an annual award which recognizes 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. A distinguished panel of judges will nominate candidates internally. The author of the winning book receives a prize of $75,000 and is honored at the annual PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony in New York City.
All winners, finalists, and longlisters for this award are eligible to receive PEN America’s official emblems. If you are a publisher and interested in obtaining PEN America’s award emblem, please write to [email protected].
2024 Awards
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
The judges for the 2024 PEN/Jean Stein Award selected five finalists and a winning title. Some titles were withdrawn from consideration at the request of the author. No winner will be announced if the selected winning title is no longer under consideration.
History
2023 Dr. No, Percival Everett (Graywolf Press)
2021 Ross Gay for Be Holding: A Poem (University of Pittsburgh Press)
2020 Yiyun Li for Where Reasons End (Random House)
2019 Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah for Friday Black (Mariner Books)
2018 Layli Long Soldier for WHEREAS (Graywolf Press)
2017 Hisham Matar for The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between (Penguin Random House)
ELIGIBILITY AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Please note that candidates for this award will be nominated internally by a panel of judges. Nominations will not be accepted. Please visit our FAQ page.
Who is Eligible?
- Must be published in the United States.
- May be of any genre (fiction, memoir, essay, general nonfiction, poetry)
- Must possess significant literary merit, illustrate great originality, and possess strong potential for lasting influence.