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About PEN/Faulkner... |
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Founded by writers in 1980, and named for William Faulkner, who used his Nobel Prize funds to create an award for young writers, and PEN, the international writers’ organization, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation brings together American writers and readers in a wide variety of programs to promote a love of literature. |
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2008 PEN/Faulkner Award Winner, Kate Christensen |
The PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionThe Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation each year choose three noted writers of fiction to select the winner and four finalists for the Awards among the approximately 300 novels and short story collections submitted. The winner, or “first among equals,” receives $15,000; each of the others receives $5,000, making PEN/Faulkner the largest peer-juried award for fiction in the United States. All five authors read from their works at the Award ceremony and celebration held at the Folger Shakespeare Library each May. |
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and Maxine Hong Kingston at the 2005 PEN/Faulkner Gala |
The Reading SeriesNoted writers of fiction from the United States and all over the world read from their work at the Folger Shakespeare Library and other venues. Receptions and book-signings follow, offering opportunities for readers and writers to continue the conversation. Writers generously donate their talents to support PEN/Faulkner. |
Herb Gold, Jerome Charyn, and Ha Jin at the 2005 PEN/Faulkner Award ceremony |
Writers in SchoolsSince 1989, PEN/Faulkner authors in the Reading Series, as well as local writers, have been visiting Washington public high schools to talk about their books. Teachers work with the authors in advance to prepare the students and to make certain that all involved enjoy and learn from the encounters. PEN/Faulkner presents each student with a new copy of the author’s book. With the support of Ford Motor Company, the cities under PEN/Faulkner’s leadership. |
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A Community of ReadersFunding for the PEN/Faulkner Awards, the Reading Series, and Writers in Schools comes from the authors who read in the series, from the audiences who come to hear them, and from many other supporters, especially the Folger Shakespeare Library, PEN/Faulkner’s home since 1983, Ford Motor Company, the Washington D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Exxon Mobil Corporation, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation,and the National Endowment for the Arts. Thanks to the generosity of these individuals and institutions, the prizes given since 1990 have been funded by an endowment, ensuring the PEN/Faulkner Award a permanent place in American literary culture. |
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2007/2008 BOARD OF DIRECTORS |