Pen America today announced the longlists for the 2015 PEN Literary Awards, spanning fiction, nonfiction, biography, essays, translation, and more.
The finalists will be announced on April 15. The winners for all 2015 awards, including PEN’s career achievement awards, will be announced on May 13 and honored at PEN’s Literary Awards Ceremony on June 8 at The New School in NYC.
PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction ($25,000): To an author whose debut work—a first novel or collection of short stories published in 2014—represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise. Judges: Caroline Fraser, Katie Kitamura, Paul La Farge, Victor LaValle
The UnAmericans (W. W. Norton & Company), Molly Antopol
Ruby (Hogarth), Cynthia Bond
Black Moon (Hogarth), Kenneth Calhoun
Redeployment (Penguin Press), Phil Klay
Ride Around Shining (Harper), Chris Leslie-Hynan
The Dog (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Jack Livings
The Wives of Los Alamos (Bloomsbury), TaraShea Nesbit
The Heaven of Animals (Simon & Schuster), David James Poissant
Love Me Back (Doubleday), Merritt Tierce
Time of the Locust (Atria Books), Morowa Yejidé
PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay ($10,000): For a book of essays published in 2014 that exemplifies the dignity and esteem that the essay form imparts to literature. Judges: Diane Johnson, Dahlia Lithwick, Vijay Seshadri, Mark Slouka
Moral Imagination (Princeton University Press), David Bromwich
Theater of Cruelty (New York Review Books), Ian Buruma
Loitering (Tin House Books), Charles D’Ambrosio
Surrendering Oz (Etruscan Press), Bonnie Friedman
The Hard Way on Purpose (Scribner), David Giffels
Where Have You Been? (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Michael Hofmann
The Empathy Exams (Graywolf Press), Leslie Jamison
Sidewalks (Coffee House Press), Valeria Luiselli
Limber (Sarabande Books), Angela Pelster
You Feel So Mortal (University Of Chicago Press), Peggy Shinner
PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award ($10,000): For a book of literary nonfiction on the subject of the physical or biological sciences published in 2014. Judges: Sue Halpern, Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Carl Zimmer
War of the Whales (Simon & Schuster), Joshua Horwitz
How We Got to Now (Riverhead Books), Steven Johnson
The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons (Little, Brown and Company), Sam Kean
The Sixth Extinction (Henry Holt and Co.), Elizabeth Kolbert
Small (Dartmouth College Press), Catherine Musemeche MD
The Age of Radiance (Scribner), Craig Nelson
Proof (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Adam Rogers
The Copernicus Complex (Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Caleb Scharf
Arrival of the Fittest (Current), Andreas Wagner
PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction ($10,000): To an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective and illuminating important contemporary issues which has been published in 2013 or 2014.Judges: Andrew Blechman, Paul Elie, Azadeh Moaveni, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, Paul Reyes
Our Declaration (Liveright), Danielle Allen
All the Truth Is Out (Alfred A. Knopf), Matt Bai
League of Denial (Crown Archetype), Mark Fainaru-Wada & Steve Fainaru
Five Days at Memorial (Crown), Sheri Fink
The Big Truck That Went By (Palgrave Macmillan), Jonathan M. Katz
This Changes Everything (Simon & Schuster), Naomi Klein
The Bill of the Century (Bloomsbury), Clay Risen
The Impulse Society (Bloomsbury), Paul Roberts
A Chance to Win (Henry Holt and Co.), Jonathan Schuppe
Powers of Two (Eamon Dolan Books), Joshua Wolf Shenk
PEN Open Book Award ($5,000): For an exceptional book-length work of literature by an author of color published in 2014. Judges: R. Erica Doyle, W. Ralph Eubanks, Chinelo Okparanta
An Unnecessary Woman (Grove Press), Rabih Alameddine
Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Charles M. Blow
Team Seven (Doubleday), Marcus Burke
Every Day Is for the Thief (Random House), Teju Cole
An Untamed State (Black Cat), Roxane Gay
Streaming (Coffee House Press), Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
A Brief History of Seven Killings (Riverhead Books), Marlon James
Kinder Than Solitude (Random House), Yiyun Li
Citizen (Graywolf Press), Claudia Rankine
The Fateful Apple (Urban Poets and Lyricists), Venus Thrash
The City Son (Soho Press), Samrat Upadhyay
PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography ($5,000): For a distinguished biography published in 2014. Judges: Emily Bernard, Nicholas Fox Weber, Jon Meacham
Updike (Harper), Adam Begley
Isabella (Nan A. Talese), Kirstin Downey
Rebel Yell (Scribner), S. C. Gwynne
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (Scribner), Jeff Hobbs
John Quincy Adams (Harper), Fred Kaplan
Strange Glory (Alfred A. Knopf), Charles Marsh
Becoming Richard Pryor (Harper), Scott Saul
The Queen’s Bed (Sarah Crichton Books), Anna Whitelock
Victoria (Penguin Press), A. N. Wilson
Piero’s Light (Pegasus Books), Larry Witham
PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing ($5,000): To honor a nonfiction book on the subject of sports published in 2014. Judges: Rich Cohen, George Dohrmann, Jonathan Mahler
Boy on Ice (W. W. Norton & Company), John Branch
Why Football Matters (Penguin Press), Mark Edmundson
Black Noon (Thomas Dunne Books), Art Garner
All Fishermen are Liars (Simon & Schuster), John Gierach
Ping-Pong Diplomacy (Scribner), Nicholas Griffin
Bird Dream (Penguin Press), Matt Higgins
Thrown (Sarabande Books), Kerry Howley
Deep (Eamon Dolan Books), James Nestor
Life Is a Wheel (Scribner), Bruce Weber
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation ($3,000): For a book-length translation of poetry into English published in 2014. Judge: Ana Božičević
Sorrowtoothpaste Mirrorcream by Kim Hyesoon (Action Books), Don Mee Choi
Love Poems by Bertolt Brecht (Liveright), David Constantine & Tom Kuhn
I Am the Beggar of the World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Eliza Griswold
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz by Juana Inés de la Cruz (W. W. Norton & Company), Edith Grossman
Where Are the Trees Going? by Venus Khoury-Ghata (Curbstone Books), Marilyn Hacker
Breathturn into Timestead by Paul Celan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Pierre Joris
Guantanamo by Frank Smith (Les Figues Press), Vanessa Place
Skin by Tone Škrjanec (Tavern Books), Matthew Rohrer & Ana Pepelnik
Diana’s Tree by Alejandra Pizarnik (Ugly Duckling Presse), Yvette Siegert
Autoepitaph by Reinaldo Arenas (University Press of Florida), Kelly Washbourne
PEN Translation Prize ($3,000): For a book-length translation of prose into English published in 2014. Judges: Heather Cleary, Lucas Klein, Tess Lewis, Allison Markin Powell
Trans-Atlantyk by Witold Gombrowicz (Yale/Margellos), Danuta Borchardt
The Gray Notebook by Josep Pla (New York Review Books), Peter Bush
The Symmetry Teacher by Andrei Bitov (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Polly Gannon
The Master of Confessions by Thierry Cruvellier (Ecco), Alex Gilly
The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Anna Kushner
I Ching (Viking Books), John Minford
Baboon by Naja Marie Aidt (Two Lines Press), Denise Newman
Texas: The Great Theft by Carmen Boullosa (Deep Vellum Publishing), Samantha Schnee
Self-Portrait in Green by Marie NDiaye (Two Lines Press), Jordan Stump
The Woman Who Borrowed Memories by Tove Jansson (New York Review Books), Thomas Teal &Silvester Mazzarella
2015 Career Achievement Awards
(The following PEN Awards do not have longlists. The winners will be announced on May 13 along with the winners for the book awards.)
PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize($10,000) For a promising young writer under the age of 35 for an unpublished work of nonfiction that addresses a global and/or multicultural issue. Judges: John Freeman, Roxane Gay, Cristina Henríquez
PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry ($5,000) For an emerging American poet showing promise of further literary achievement. Judges: Marie Howe, Mary Szybist, Craig Morgan Teiche
PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship ($5,000) For an author of children’s or young-adult fiction to complete a book-length work-in-progress.Judges: Viola Canales, Selene Castrovilla, Elizabeth Levy
PEN/Nora Magid Award for Editing($2,500) For a magazine editor whose high literary taste has, throughout his or her career, contributed significantly to the excellence of the publication he or she edits. Judges: Christopher Castellani, Carmela Ciuraru, Bill Clegg
PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation Awards for Drama($7,500 & $2,500) Three awards which honor a Master American Dramatist, Playwright in Mid-career, and Emerging Playwright. Judges: Kathleen Chalfant, Ellen McLaughlin, Adam Rapp
PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing($5,000) For a writer whose body of work represents an exceptional contribution to the field. Judges: Mike Barnicle, Franklin Foer, Selena Roberts
PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for TranslationFor a translator whose career has demonstrated a commitment to excellence through the body of his or her work. Chosen by the PEN Translation Committee
PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants($2,000-$4,000) To support the translation of book-length works into English. Judges: Esther Allen, Mitzi Angel, Peter Blackstock, Howard Goldblatt, Sara Khalili, Michael F. Moore*, Declan Spring, Alex Zucker (*Voting Chair of PEN/Heim Advisory Board)
