PEN America literary awards

 

PEN America has announced the Longlists for the 2023 Literary Awards. The 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. Spanning fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biography, essay, science writing, translation, and more, these Longlisted books are dynamic, diverse, and thought-provoking examples of literary excellence.

PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD

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: Joan Naviyuk Kane, Lauren Groff, Madeleine Thien

My Pinup, Hilton Als 

Acting Class, Nick Drnaso 

If I Survive You, Jonathan Escoffery 

Dr. No, Percival Everett 

Very Cold People, Sarah Manguso 

Milkweed Smithereens, Bernadette Mayer 

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, Noor Naga 

The White Mosque, Sofia Samatar 

Customs, Solmaz Sharif 

Night of the Living Rez, Morgan Talty 

PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD

To an exceptional book-length work of any literary genre by an author of color.

Judges: Jenn Baker, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Nina McConigley, Erika L. Sanchez

Golden Ax, Rio Cortez 

Shutter, Ramona Emerson 

The Black Period, Hafizah Augustus Geter 

The Listening Skin: Poems, Glenis Redmond 

Gorgoneion, Casey Rocheteau 

All the Flowers Kneeling, Paul Tran 

The Town of Babylon, Alejandro Varela 

Making Love with the Land, Joshua Whitehead 

Last Summer on State Street, Toya Wolfe 

Solito, Javier Zamora 

PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE FOR DEBUT SHORT STORY COLLECTION

To an author whose debut collection of short stories represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise for future work.

Judges: Nafissa Thompson Spires, Chris Gonzalez, Susan Muaddi Darraj

Seeking Fortune Elsewhere, Sindya Bhanoo 

Rainbow Rainbow, Lydia Conklin 

Is This How You Eat a Watermelon?, Zein El-Amine 

If I Survive You, Jonathan Escoffery 

A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times, Meron Hadero 

A Calm & Normal Heart, Chelsea T. Hicks 

What We Fed to the Manticore, Talia Lakshmi Kolluri 

The Anchored World, Jasmine Sawers 

Night of the Living Rez, Morgan Talty 

Manywhere, Morgan Thomas 

PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL

To a debut novel of exceptional literary merit by an American author.

Judges: Gina Apostol, Oscar Cásares, Matthew Salesses

A Tiny Upward Shove, Melissa Chadburn 

The School for Good Mothers, Jessamine Chan 

Activities of Daily Living, Lisa Hsiao Chen 

Shutter, Ramona Emerson 

Nuclear Family, Joseph Han

Calling For a Blanket Dance, Oscar Hokeah 

Nightcrawling, Leila Mottley 

How High We Go in the Dark, Sequoia Nagamatsu 

Little Rabbit, Alyssa Songsiridej 

Which Side Are You On, Ryan Lee Wong 

PEN/VOELCKER AWARD FOR POETRY COLLECTION

To a poet whose distinguished collection of poetry represents a notable and accomplished literary presence.

Judges: Kimiko Hahn, Molly McCully Brown, Allison Rollins, Willie Perdomo

Smoking the Bible, Chris Abani 

[To] The Last [Be] Human, Jorie Graham 

Maafa, Harmony Holiday 

The Hurting Kind, Ada Limon 

To The Realization of Perfect Helplessness, Robin Coste Lewis 

Cain Named The Animal, Shane Mcrae 

Pink Waves, Sawako Nakayasu 

blood snow, Dg Nanouk Okpik 

Then The War, Carl Phillips 

Best Barbarian, Roger Reeves 

PEN AWARD FOR POETRY IN TRANSLATION

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, translated from Spanish by Daniel Borzutzky 

No Way in the Skin without This Bloody Embrace, Jean D’Amérique, translated from French by Conor Bracken 

The Threshold, Iman Mersal, translated from Arabic by Robyn Creswell

claus and the scorpion, Lara Dopazo Ruibal, translated from Galician by Laura Cesarco Eglin

Dolore Minimo, Giovanna Cristina Vivinetto, translated from Italian by Gabriella Fee and Dora Malech

Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season, Forough Farrokhzad, translated from Persian by Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. 

distant transit, Maja Haderlap, translated from German by Tess Lewis

Motherfield, Julia Cimafiejeva, translated from Belarusian by Valzhyna Mort and Hanif Abdurraqib

The Rust of History, Sotero Rivera Avilés, translated from Spanish by Raquel Salas Rivera 

Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, Adela Zamudio, translated from Spanish by Lynette Yetter

PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE

For a book-length translation of prose from any language into English.

Judges: Layla Benitez-James, Slava Faybysh, Sora Kim-Russell, Elton Uliana

All Your Children, Scattered, Beata Umybyeyi Mairesse, translated from French by Alison Anderson

The Tatami Galaxy, Tomihiko Morimi, translated from Japanese by Emily Balistrieri

Jawbone, Mónica Ojeda, translated from Spanish by Sarah Booker

Call Me Cassandra, Marcial Gala, translated from Spanish by Anna Kushner

Moldy Strawberries, Caio Fernando Abreu, translated from Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato

Toño the Infallible, Evelio Rosero, translated from Spanish by Victor Meadowcroft and Anne McLean

Ghost Town, Kevin Chen, translated from Taiwanese by Darryl Sterk

People from Bloomington, Budi Darma, translated from Indonesian by Tiffany Tsao

A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast, Dorthe Nors, translated from by Caroline Waight

Pina, Titaua Peu, translated from French by Jeffrey Zuckerman

PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD FOR THE ART OF THE ESSAY

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

I’ll Show Myself Out, Jessi Klein 

Translating Myself and Others, Jhumpa Lahiri 

A Place in the World, Frances Mayes 

Still No Word From You, Peter Orner 

Animal Bodies: On Death, Desire, and Other Difficulties, Suzanne Roberts 

Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris

Small Acreages: New and Selected Essays, Georgia Green Stamper 

Streaming Now: Postcards from the Thing That Is Happening, Laurie Stone 

A Left-Handed Woman, Judith Thurman 

The Green Hour: A Natural History of Home, Alison Townsend 

PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD

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

Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist, Frans de Waal 

Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage, Rachel E. Gross 

Orchid Muse: A History of Obsession in Fifteen Flowers, Erica Hannickel 

Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution's Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction, David George Haskell 

A Molecule Away from Madness: Tales of the Hijacked Brain, Sara Manning Peskin 

The Wine-Dark Sea Within: A Turbulent History of Blood, Dhun Sethna 

Big Bang of Numbers: How to Build the Universe Using Only Math, Manil Suri 

Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey, Florence Williams 

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong 

Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test: How Behavior Evolves and Why It Matters, Marlene Zuk

PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY

For a biography of exceptional literary, narrative, and artistic merit, based on scrupulous research.

Judges: Manu Bhagavan, Silvana Paternostro

An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Deathof Howard Baskerville, Reza Aslan 

Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Strugglefor Equality, Tomiko Brown-Nagin 

Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-HopProducer Who Reinvented Rhythm, Dan Charnas

The Adventures of Herbie Cohen: The World's Greatest Negotiator, Rich Cohen 

G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the AmericanCentury, Beverly Gage 

The Hyacinth Girl: T. S. Eliot’s Hidden Muse, Lyndall Gordon 

Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda, Ruth Harris 

Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century, Jennifer Homans 

The Pope at War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini,and Hitler, David I. Kertzer 

Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins, Aidan Levy 

PEN/JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH AWARD FOR NONFICTION

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 Naked Don’t Fear the Water: An Underground Journey withAfghan Refugees, Matthieu Aikins 

Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods, Lyndsie Bourgon 

After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the AmericanDream and Blew Up Our Politics–And How to Fix It, Will Bunch 

The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa’sRacial Reckoning, Eve Fairbanks 

Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in theBorderlands, Kelly Lytle Hernandez 

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon toUnderstand the Soul of a Nation, Imani Perry 

The War of Nerves: Inside the Cold War Mind, Martin Sixsmith 

The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality andDisease Collide, Steven W. Thrasher 

The Great Stewardess Rebellion: How Women Launched aWorkplace Revolution at 30,000 Feet, Nell McShane Wulfhart 

Solito, Javier Zamora