Elizabeth Hawes

Elizabeth Hawes is a recipient of the Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize. Her work has been published in The Rumpus, Santa Clara Review, Black Lipstick, and Truthout. In 2022, her quotes were projected onto the Rockefeller Center for PEN America’s art installation, Speech Itself.

2022 PEN America Prison Writing Contest – Honorable Mention in Nonfiction Memoir for “Pain Management”

2018 PEN America Prison Writing Contest – Third Place in Poetry for “The Glitter Squirrel in Me

2018 PEN America Prison Writing Contest – Fielding A. Dawson Award in Drama for “Univision

2017 PEN America Prison Writing Contest – Second Place in Nonfiction Memoir for “Double Secret Probation: The Two-Week Paper Blog”

2016 PEN America Prison Writing Contest – Second Place in Nonfiction Memoir for “Warranted”


Articles by Elizabeth Hawes

Prison and Justice Writing
Wednesday September 7

Pain Management

Elizabeth Hawes was awarded an Honorable Mention in Nonfiction Memoir in the 2022 Prison Writing Contest. Every year, hundreds of imprisoned people from around the country submit poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and dramatic works to PEN America’s Prison Writing Contest, one of the few outlets of free expression for the country’s incarcerated population. I am reading

Prison and Justice Writing
Monday November 16

Supernova (Excerpted Pieces)

“The one person who is always there for me is not there. I feel that I face the world alone. I stand on the outside: I’m not like the girls on TV or the movies, or at girl scouts or school.”

Prison and Justice Writing
Wednesday November 11

A Golden Partnership

These dual essays were written by Elizabeth Hawes and Jeffrey James Keyes, 2020 honorees for the PEN America/L’Engle-Rahman Prize for Mentorship.