The PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay is awarded by the PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to an author for a book of original collected essays. [1] The award was founded by PEN Member and author Barbaralee Diamonstein and Carl Spielvogel, [2] former New York Times columnist, "to preserve the dignity and esteem that the essay form imparts to literature." [3] The winner receives a cash award of $10,000. [1]
The award was on hiatus from 2005 to 2010. [1]
The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN affiliates in over 145 PEN centres around the world. The PEN American Center awards have been characterized as being among the "major" American literary prizes. [4]
Year | Author | Title | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Bernard Knox | Essays Ancient and Modern | Winner | |
1991 | Martha Nussbaum | Love's Knowledge | Winner | |
1992 | David Morris | The Culture of Pain | Winner | |
1993 | Frederick Crews | The Critics Bear It Away: American Fiction and the Academy | Winner | |
1994 | Stanley Fish | There's No Such Thing as Free Speech, and it's a Good Thing, Too | Winner | |
1995 | John Brinckerhoff Jackson | A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time | Winner | |
1996 | Thomas Nagel | Other Minds | Winner | |
1997 | Cynthia Ozick | Fame and Folly | Winner | |
1998 | Adam Hochschild | Finding the Trapdoor | Winner | |
1999 | Marilynne Robinson | The Death of Adam | Winner | |
2000 | Annie Dillard | For the Time Being | Winner | |
2001 | David Quammen | The Boilerplate Rhino | Winner | |
2002 | David Bromwich | Skeptical Music | Winner | |
2003 | William H. Gass | Test of Time | Winner | |
2004 | Stewart Justman | Seeds of Mortality | Winner | |
2011 | Mark Slouka | Essays from the Nick of Time | Winner | [5] |
2012 | Christopher Hitchens | Arguably | Winner | [6] [7] |
2013 | Robert Hass | What Light Can Do | Winner | [8] [9] |
Jill Lepore | The Story of America | Shortlist | [10] [11] | |
Daniel Mendelsohn | Waiting for the Barbarians | Shortlist | [10] [11] | |
2014 | James Wolcott | Critical Mass | Winner | [12] [13] [14] |
Rebecca Solnit | The Faraway Nearby | Shortlist | [15] | |
David Sedaris | Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls | Shortlist | [15] | |
Janet Malcolm | Forty-One False Starts | Shortlist | [15] | |
2015 | Ian Buruma | Theater of Cruelty: Art, Film, and the Shadow of War | Winner | [16] [17] |
David Bromwich | Moral Imagination | Shortlist | [18] | |
Charles D’Ambrosio | Loitering | Shortlist | [18] | |
Leslie Jamison | The Empathy Exams | Shortlist | [18] | |
Angela Pelster | Limber | Shortlist | [18] | |
2016 | Ta-Nehisi Coates | Between the World and Me | Winner | [19] [20] [21] |
Renata Adler | After the Tall Timber: Collected Non-Fiction | Shortlist | [22] | |
Susan Howe | The Quarry | Shortlist | [22] [23] | |
Marilynne Robinson | The Givenness of Things: Essays | Shortlist | [22] | |
David L. Ulin | Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles | Shortlist | [22] | |
2017 | Angela Morales | The Girls In My Town: Essays | Winner | [24] [25] [26] |
2018 | Ursula K. Le Guin | No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters | Winner | [27] [28] [29] [30] |
2019 | Michelle Tea | Against Memoir | Winner | [31] [32] [33] |
2020 | Deborah Fleming | Resurrection of the Wild | Winner | [34] [35] |
Eve Babitz | I Used to Be Charming: The Rest of Eve Babitz | Shortlist | [36] | |
Leslie Jamison | Make It Scream, Make It Burn: Essays | Shortlist | [36] | |
Emily Nussbaum | I Like To Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution | Shortlist | [36] | |
Jia Tolentino | Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion | Shortlist | [36] | |
2021 | Barbara Ehrenreich | Had I Known: Collected Essays | Winner | [37] [38] |
2022 | Margaret Renkl | Graceland, at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South | Winner | [39] [40] [41] |
Hanif Abdurraqib | A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance | Shortlist | [42] [43] | |
André Aciman | Homo Irrealis: Essays | Shortlist | [42] [43] | |
Teju Cole | Black Paper: Writing in a Dark Time | Shortlist | [42] [43] | |
Ann Patchett | These Precious Days: Essays | Shortlist | [42] [43] | |
2023 | Judith Thurman | A Left-Handed Woman | Winner | [44] |
Jhumpa Lahiri | Translating Myself and Others | Shortlist | [45] | |
Peter Orner | Still No Word From You | Shortlist | [45] | |
David Sedaris | Happy-Go-Lucky | Shortlist | [45] | |
Alison Townsend | The Green Hour: A Natural History of Home | Shortlist | [45] |
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living Americans, Green Card holders or permanent residents. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Judges read citations for each of the finalists' works at the presentation ceremony in Washington, D.C.. The organization claims it to be "the largest peer-juried award in the country." The award was first given in 1981.
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is an international children's literary award established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honour the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002). The prize is five million SEK, making it the richest award in children's literature and one of the richest literary prizes in the world. The annual cost of 10 million SEK is financed with tax money.
The PEN Translation Prize is an annual award given by PEN America to outstanding translations into the English language. It has been presented annually by PEN America and the Book of the Month Club since 1963. It was the first award in the United States expressly for literary translators. A 1999 New York Times article called it "the Academy Award of Translation" and that the award is thus usually not given to younger translators.
PEN/Open Book is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing industry. Created in 1991 by the PEN American Center, the PEN/Open Book program ensures custodians of language and literature are representative of the American people.
The PEN Award for Poetry in Translation is given by PEN America to honor a poetry translation published in the preceding year. The award should not be confused with the PEN Translation Prize. The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN in over 145 PEN centers around the world. The PEN American Center awards have been characterized as being among the "major" American literary prizes. The award was called one of "the most prominent translation awards."
The Branford Boase Award is a British literary award presented annually to an outstanding children's or young-adult novel by a first-time writer; "the most promising book for seven year-olds and upwards by a first time novelist." The award is shared by both the author and their editor, which The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature noted is unusual for literary awards.
The PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, formerly known as the Bellwether Prize for Fiction is a biennial award given by the PEN America and Barbara Kingsolver to a U.S. citizen for a previously unpublished work of fiction that address issues of social justice. The prize was established by noted author Barbara Kingsolver, and is funded by her. Winning authors receive a $25,000 award and a publishing contract, from which they receive royalties.
The PEN/Bernard and Ann Malamud Award honors "excellence in the art of the short story". It is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The selection committee is composed of PEN/Faulkner directors. The award was first given in 1988.
The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are a group of literary awards presented annually to mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The award is given in four categories—best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, and best short story. The Sue Feder Historical Mystery has been given in conjunction with the Macavity Awards.
The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection is awarded by the PEN America "to exceptionally talented fiction writers whose debut work — a first novel or collection of short stories ... represent distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise." The winner is selected by a panel of PEN Members made up of three writers or editors. The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize was originally named the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers. The prize awards the debut writer a cash award of US$25,000.
The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction is awarded by PEN America biennially "to a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective and illuminating important contemporary issues which have been published in the United States during the previous two calendar years. It is intended that the winning book possess the qualities of intellectual rigor, perspicuity of expression, and stylistic elegance conspicuous in the writings of author and economist John Kenneth Galbraith, whose four dozen books and countless other publications continue to provide an important and incisive commentary on the American social, intellectual and political scene."
The Ferro-Grumley Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle and the Ferro-Grumley Foundation to a book deemed the year's best work of LGBT fiction. The award is presented in memory of writers Robert Ferro and Michael Grumley. It was co-founded in 1988 by Stephen Greco, who continues to direct it as of 2022.
The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry is an annual literary award presented by Publishing Triangle to honour works of gay male poetry. First presented in 2001 as the Triangle Award for Gay Poetry, the award was renamed in memory of British poet Thom Gunn, the award's first winner, following his death in 2004.
The Judy Grahn Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honour works of non-fiction of relevance to the lesbian community. First presented in 1997, the award was named in honor of American poet and cultural theorist Judy Grahn.
The Randy Shilts Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honour works of non-fiction of relevance to the gay community. First presented in 1997, the award was named in memory of American journalist Randy Shilts.
The Edmund White Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honour debut novels by writers within the LGBT community. First presented in 2006, the award was named in honour of American novelist Edmund White.
The Bill Whitehead Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honour lifetime achievement by writers within the LGBT community. First presented in 1989, the award was named in honour of Bill Whitehead, an editor with E. P. Dutton and Macmillan Publishers who died in 1987. The award is given to a woman in even-numbered years and a man in odd-numbered years.
PEN/Jean Stein Book Award is awarded by the PEN America to honor a "a book-length work of any genre for its originality, merit, and impact". The award of $75,000 is one of the richest prizes given by the PEN American Center. It was first awarded in 2017.
How to Pronounce Knife is a short story collection by Souvankham Thammavongsa, published in 2020 by McClelland & Stewart. The stories in the collection centre principally on the experiences of Laotian Canadian immigrant families, sometimes from the perspective of children observing the world of adults.
T. Geronimo Johnson is an American filmmaker and novelist. His debut novel, Hold It 'Til It Hurts, was a finalist for the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. His sophomore novel, Welcome to Braggsville, won the 2015 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, the 2016 William Saroyan International Prize for Fiction Writing, and the inaugural Simpson Family Literary Prize in 2017.