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Saeed Jones and Rob Spillman Among Winners of the 2015 PEN Literary Awards
The PEN America Center has just announced several of the winners of this year’s PEN literary awards. Among the winners are Buzzfeed Literary Editor Saeed Jones for his poetry collection Prelude to Bruise, Tin House editor Rob Spillman for editing, and author Anna Whitelock for her biography The Queen’s Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth’s Court.
Not all of the award winners have been announced though. Several awards, such as PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize will only be publicly announced at the June 8th ceremony. The shortlists for those awards are listed below.
Congrats to all the winners!
2015 PEN LITERARY AWARD WINNERS
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, and Carl Zimmer
WINNER: War of the Whales: A True Story (Simon & Schuster), Joshua Horwitz
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, and Paul Reyes
WINNER: Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (Crown), Sheri Fink
PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography ($5,000): For a distinguished biography published in 2014.
JUDGES: Emily Bernard, Nicholas Fox Weber, and Jon Meacham
WINNER: The Queen’s Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth’s Court (Sarah Crichton Books/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Anna Whitelock
PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry ($5,000): For an emerging American poet showing promise of further literary achievement.
JUDGES: Marie Howe, Mary Szybist, and Craig Morgan Teicher
WINNER: Saeed Jones for Prelude to Bruise (Coffee House Press)
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, and Elizabeth Levy
WINNER: Stephanie Keuhn for The Pragmatist
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, and Selena Roberts
WINNER: Bob Ryan
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation ($3,000): For a book-length translation of poetry into English published in 2014.
JUDGE: Ana Božičević
WINNER: I Am the Beggar of the World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), translated from the Pashto by Eliza Griswold
PEN Translation Prize ($3,000): For a book-length translation of prose into English published in 2014.
JUDGES: Heather Cleary, Lucas Klein, Tess Lewis, and Allison Markin Powell
WINNER: Baboon by Naja Marie Aidt (Two Lines Press), translated from the Danish by Denise Newman
PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Awards ($7,500 and $2,500): Three awards which honor a Master American Dramatist, American Playwright in Mid-Career, and Emerging American Playwright.
JUDGES: Kathleen Chalfant, Ellen McLaughlin, and Adam Rapp
WINNER: Tina Howe
American Playwright in Mid-Career ($7,500)
WINNER: Anne Washburn
Emerging American Playwright ($2,500)
WINNER: Jennifer Blackmer
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, and Bill Clegg
WINNER: Rob Spillman for Tin House
PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation: For a translator whose career has demonstrated a commitment to excellence through the body of his or her work.
JUDGES: Selected by the PEN Translation Committee
WINNER: Burton Watson
AWARDS TO BE ANNOUNCED
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, and Victor LaValle
The winner will be announced at the 2015 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony on June 8
SHORTLIST:
The UnAmericans (W. W. Norton & Company), Molly Antopol
Ruby (Hogarth), Cynthia Bond
Redeployment (Penguin Press), Phil Klay
The Dog (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Jack Livings
Love Me Back (Doubleday), Merritt Tierce
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, and Mark Slouka
The winner will be announced at the 2015 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony on June 8
SHORTLIST:
Moral Imagination (Princeton University Press), David Bromwich
Theater of Cruelty (New York Review Books), Ian Buruma
Loitering (Tin House Books), Charles D’Ambrosio
The Empathy Exams (Graywolf Press), Leslie Jamison
Limber (Sarabande Books), Angela Pelster
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, and Cristina Henríquez
WINNER: The winner will be announced later this month.
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, and Chinelo Okparanta
The winner will be announced at the 2015 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony on June 8
SHORTLIST:
An Unnecessary Woman (Grove Press), Rabih Alameddine
Every Day Is for the Thief (Random House), Teju Cole
An Untamed State (Black Cat/ Grove Atlantic), Roxane Gay
Citizen (Graywolf Press), Claudia Rankine
The City Son (Soho Press), Samrat Upadhyay
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, and Alex Zucker (*Voting Chair of the PEN/Heim Advisory Board)
WINNER: Grant recipients will be announced later this month.
