PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction

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The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction is awarded by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) 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." [1]

Contents

The winner receives $10,000.

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. [2]

Award winners

YearAuthorTitleRef.
2007 James Carroll House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power [3]
2009 Steve Coll The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century [3]
2011 Robert Perkinson Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire [4] [3]
2013 Katherine Boo Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity [5] [3]
2015 Sheri Fink Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital [6] [7]
2017 Matthew Desmond Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City [3]
2019 Bernice Yeung In a Day's Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America’s Most Vulnerable Workers
2021 Saidiya Hartman Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals [8]
2022 Tiya Miles All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake [9]
2023 Eve Fairbanks The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa’s Racial Reckoning [10]

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References

  1. PEN American Center Literary Awards Archived 2012-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Alfred Bendixen (2005). "Literary Prizes and Awards". The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 689. Archived from the original on 2023-02-24. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction Winners". PEN America. 2016-04-29. Archived from the original on 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  4. "Jacket Copy: PEN American Center's 2011 award winners". Los Angeles Times . August 11, 2011. Archived from the original on December 10, 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  5. Carolyn Kellogg (August 14, 2013). "Jacket Copy: PEN announces winners of its 2013 awards". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on August 16, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  6. Carolyn Kellogg (May 13, 2015). "PEN announces award-winners and shortlists". LA Times . Archived from the original on May 15, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  7. "2015 PEN Literary Award Winners". pen.org. Archived from the original on May 16, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  8. "Announcing the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards Winners". PEN America. 2021-04-08. Archived from the original on 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  9. "PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction". PEN America. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  10. Schaub, Michael (2023-03-03). "PEN Award Winners Announced". Kirkus Reviews . Archived from the original on 2023-03-06. Retrieved 2023-03-06.