LITERARY CONVERSATIONSStorytellers have long been inspired by our city's rich past and present, elevating the voices of its citizens, exploring its landmarks and tucked-away corners, and imagining its future. We invite residents of DC to join three fantastic...
Zak Salih is the author of the novel Let's Get Back to the Party, recommended as a must-read book in 2021 by O, the Oprah Magazine; BuzzFeed; Cosmopolitan; The Millions; Electric Literature; Vanity Fair; The Advocate; Harper's Bazaar; Kirkus Reviews; Lambda Literary;...
Rion Amilcar Scott is the author of the story collection, The World Doesn’t Require You (Norton/Liveright, August 2019), a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and winner of the 2020 Towson Prize for Literature. His debut story collection, Insurrections...
Leslye Penelope’s debut novel Song of Blood & Stone was chosen as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. The novel also won the inaugural award for Best Self-Published Fiction from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association before it...
Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a podcast and digital platform that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. She edited the Well-Read Black Girl anthology in 2018, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and named a best...
Nic Stone is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin, the novel that launched her career in 2017 and encourages readers of all ages to examine the biases in their own lives and to have honest discussions about race in today’s world. Nic’s mission is...
Toni Jensen is the author of Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize and a New York Times Editors’ Choice book (Ballantine 2020). An NEA Creative Writing Fellowship recipient in 2020, Jensen's essays have appeared in Orion,...
LITERARY CONVERSATIONSOur national conversation about guns is dominated by polarizing rhetoric. In literature, however, we find nuance and complex human stories about the impact of gun violence on American life. To explore those stories, please join us for GUNS, a...
Jennifer Clement is President Emerita of PEN International and the only woman to hold the office of President (2015-2021) since the organization was founded in 1921. Under her leadership the groundbreaking PEN International Women’s Manifesto and The Democracy of the...
Lisa Page Writing Workshops Fellow
Writer in Residence
We are excited to announce that long-time Fresh Air host and co-executive producer Terry Gross has been selected as the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion. This annual commendation recognizes a lifetime of devoted literary advocacy and a commitment to inspiring new...
Terry Gross is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, the daily program of interviews and reviews. It is produced at WHYY in Philadelphia, where Gross began hosting the show in 1975, when it was broadcast locally. Her interviews with leading writers, actors,...
Reproductive choice is the third rail of American politics, but novelists have the power to explore the subject with an openness and curiosity so often missing from the news cycle. Join three acclaimed writers—R.O. Kwon, Joanne Ramos, and Leni Zumas—in a conversation led by moderator Elisa Albert about representations of choice, access, contraception, personal autonomy, and abortion in their work on Wednesday, September 14, at 7 pm ET.
Elisa Albert is the author of After Birth, The Book of Dahlia, How This Night Is Different, and editor of the anthology Freud’s Blind Spot. Her stories and essays have appeared in Time, The Guardian, The New York Times, n+1, Bennington Review, Tin House, Michigan...
Leni Zumas was a finalist for the 2021 John Dos Passos Prize for Literature. Her bestselling novel Red Clocks won the Oregon Book Award and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Neukom Award for Speculative Fiction. She lives in Oregon and...
Joanne Ramos was born in the Philippines and moved to Wisconsin when she was six. She graduated with a B.A. from Princeton University. After working in investment banking and private-equity investing, she became a staff writer at The Economist. She currently serves on...
Tiphanie Yanique is the author of the novel, Monster in the Middle, which was published in 2021, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards, and was on numerous best of the year lists. Tiphanie is also the author of the poetry collection, Wife, which won the Bocas...
R.O. Kwon’s nationally bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries, is being translated into seven languages and was named a best book of the year by over forty publications. The Incendiaries was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award and the...
Christopher Bollen is the author of five novels, including A Beautiful Crime in 2020. His latest novel, The Lost Americans, will be published by Harper in March 2023. Bollen also writes for a number of publications including the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and...
Yiyun Li is the author of seven books of fiction and two books of nonfiction, including her newest novel, THE BOOK OF GOOSE (September 2022). She has received many awards and grants, including a Whiting Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, a Windham-Campbell...
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation announces that Yiyun Li has been selected as the winner of the 2022 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Given since 1988 in honor of the late Bernard Malamud, the award recognizes writers who have demonstrated exceptional...
Even though the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award Celebration is virtual this year, we are still incredibly excited to honor the year's best in fiction with you. Join our team in setting the mood by streaming our event playlist, mixing a custom drink, sharing a photo using our...
On April 14, 2022 we engaged with three critically acclaimed poets and spoken word artists Fatimah Asghar, Olivia Gatwood, Danez Smith, and moderator Nate Marshall.
This Literary Conversation included readings and performances by our featured authors and will be followed by a live Q&A with the audience. Live captioning will also be available for this event.
Danez Smith is a Black, Queer, Poz writer & performer from St. Paul, MN. Danez is the author of "Don’t Call Us Dead" (Graywolf Press, 2017), winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and a finalist for the National Book...
Nate Marshall is the author and editor of numerous works including Finna, Wild Hundreds, The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, and the audio drama Bruh Rabbit & The Fantastic Telling of Remington Ellis Esq. He teaches creative writing and...
Olivia Gatwood has received international recognition for her poetry, writing workshops, and work as a Title IX Compliant educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she now lives in Los Angeles. Olivia is the author of...
Fatimah Asghar is a writer and filmmaker. In 2011 she created a spoken word poetry group in Bosnia and Herzegovina while on a Fulbright studying theater in post-genocidal countries. She is the writer and co-creator of Brown Girls, an Emmy-Nominated web series. A Ruth...
We are excited to announce that Rabih Alameddine’s The Wrong End of the Telescope (Grove Atlantic) has been selected as the winner of the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. “This year’s judges have done the seemingly impossible,” said Louis Bayard, PEN/Faulkner...
Oprah Winfrey is a global media leader, producer, actress and a dedicated philanthropist. She has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world, making her one of the most respected and admired figures today. For over 25 years, Oprah’s Book Club has...
We are excited to announce that entertainment legend Oprah Winfrey has been selected as the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion. This annual commendation recognizes a lifetime of devoted literary advocacy and a commitment to inspiring new generations of readers and...
DATE | March 23, 2022 at 7:00 PM
LOCATION | Online Event
Join three acclaimed writers—Zeyn Joukhadar, Torrey Peters, and Neon Yang—in a conversation moderated by activist and author P. Carl about their books and trans representation in contemporary literature.
P. Carl is a Senior Distinguished Artist in Residence, Department of Performing Arts, at Emerson College in Boston and the author of the memoir, Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition (Simon & Schuster, 2020). He was the Spring 2020 Anschutz Fellow at Princeton...
Torrey Peters is the author of the bestselling novel Detransition, Baby (Random House, 2021), which was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for the John Leonard Prize, longlisted for the Women’s Prize, and was a Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club...
Neon Yang is the author of the Tensorate series of novellas from Tor.Com Publishing (The Red Threads of Fortune, The Black Tides of Heaven, The Descent of Monsters and The Ascent to Godhood). Their work has been shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula, Lambda Literary and...
Zeyn Joukhadar is the author of The Thirty Names of Night, which won the Lambda Literary Award and the Stonewall Book Award, and The Map of Salt and Stars, which won the Middle East Book Award and was a Goodreads Choice Awards and Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize...
Judges have selected the five finalists for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, America’s most prestigious peer-juried literary prize. The finalists are Radiant Fugitives by Nawaaz Ahmed (Counterpoint), The Wrong End of the Telescope by Rabih Alameddine (Grove...
Finalist for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionRabih Alameddine is the author of the novels An Unnecessary Woman; I, the Divine; Koolaid; The Hakawati; and the story collection The Perv. In 2019, he won the Dos Passos Prize. Purchase The Wrong End of the...
Finalist for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionNawaaz Ahmed was born in Tamil Nadu, India. Before turning to writing, he was a computer scientist, researching search algorithms for Yahoo. He holds an MFA from University of Michigan–Ann Arbor and is the winner of...
Finalist for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionCarolina de Robertis is the author of five novels, including Cantoras, winner of both a Stonewall Book Award and a Reading Women Award, and a finalist for both the Kirkus Prize and a Lambda Literary Award; it was...
Finalist for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionCarolyn Ferrell is the author of the short-story collection Don’t Erase Me, which received the Art Seidenbaum Award of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize program, the John C. Zacharis Award given by Ploughshares, and...
Finalist for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionImbolo Mbue is the author of the New York Times bestseller Behold the Dreamers, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was an Oprah’s Book Club selection. The novel has been translated into eleven...
Finger snaps toppled over one another in the classroom. Rain trickled down the school’s windows, but the excitement of the students wasn’t dulled by the bad weather. Alan King—a poet from Bowie, MD—was discussing his poem “Mr. On-Time” with students at E. L. Haynes...
Kaitlyn Greenidge's debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman, was one of the New York Times Critics’ Top 10 Books of 2016 and a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. She is a contributing writer for the New York Times and the features director at...
Bethanne Patrick is a writer, author, and book critic whose work appears regularly in the LA Times and has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, at NPR Books and Lit Hub, and many other publications. She is First VP and Programs Chair for the PEN/Faulkner...
Born into the Vietnam War in 1973, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai grew up witnessing the war’s devastation and its aftermath. She worked as a street seller and rice farmer before winning a scholarship to attend university in Australia. She is the author of eight books of poetry,...
Jonathan Lee is the author of four novels, most recently The Great Mistake. He is the editorial director of Bloomsbury.
DATE | February 28, 2022 at 7:00 PM
LOCATION | Online Event
History isn’t fixed. It’s written and rewritten all the time as historians adopt contemporary perspectives on past events. Writers of historical fiction incorporate those new perspectives into their work, too, revealing new ideas and stories. Join three acclaimed historical novelists—Kaitlyn Greenidge, Jonathan Lee, and Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai—in a conversation moderated by author and PEN/Faulkner board member Bethanne Patrick about bringing fresh artistry to accurate portrayals of history.
We are thrilled to announce the longlist of books for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, America’s most prestigious peer-juried literary prize. The longlist includes the following ten titles: Radiant Fugitives by Nawaaz Ahmed (Counterpoint)The Wrong End of the...
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Education Programs Director
Writer in Residence
DATE | December 3, 2021 at 7:30 PM
LOCATION | Online Event
The 2021 PEN/Malamud Award Ceremony celebrated Charles Baxter. This year’s event featured a reading, an in-depth conversation and a Q&A about his work, and remarks by Janna Malamud Smith, Bernard Malamud’s daughter. The cceremony was hosted in partnership with the MFA Program in Creative Writing at American University.
Writer in Residence
Louise Erdrich
Cherie Jones
Margaret Verble
Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Tommy Orange
Rumaan Alam
Mateo Askaripour
Kevin Kwan
Petra Mayer
Leigh Bardugo
DATE | Wed, November 17, 2021, 7:00 PM
LOCATION | Online Event
We engaged with Louise Erdrich, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, and Tommy Orange, who are among the most highly acclaimed Native writers of our time. Moderated by Margaret Verble, this discussion explored how their storytelling has been informed by their experiences as Indigenous people.
A recording and transcript is now available.
DATE | Wed, October 27, 2021, 7:00 PM
LOCATION | Online Event
Money affects every aspect of human behavior. Authors Kevin Kwan, Cherie Jones, and Mateo Askaripour, with moderator Rumaan Alam, will explore the depiction of money and global financial systems in their work and in contemporary literature.
DATE | Wed, September 22, 2021, 7:00 PM
LOCATION | Online Event
This fourth installment of Literature on Screen featured Leigh Bardugo, author of the best-selling book turned hit Netflix series, “Shadow and Bone.” Leigh was in conversation with Petra Mayer (NPR) to discuss the translation of her books to the hit Netflix series!
A recording and transcript of this event is now available!
Eugenia Kim
Rebecca Makkai
Charles Baxter
Charles Baxter has been selected as the winner of the 2021 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Given since 1988 in honor of the late Bernard Malamud, the award recognizes writers who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in the short story form....
The 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award Celebration was held on May 10, 2021, and honored this year's distinguished books and authors. This exquisite literary evening featured original readings by our PEN/Faulkner Award winner and four finalists; commendations by our three...
Though the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award Celebration is virtual this year, we are still incredibly excited to honor the year's best in fiction with you. Join our team in setting the mood by streaming our event playlist, mixing a custom drink, and putting your literary...
We're delighted to present this essay by Jennifer Cheng, our incredible Literary Outreach/Education Programs intern who joined us this past winter/spring, about an experience at an author visit that impacted her. Bringing Worlds to Life: Fostering Empathy and...
DATE | April 19, 2021
LOCATION | Online Event
Crisis featured three novelists whose work is informed by the possibility of impending crisis.
T.C. Boyle (World’s End, The Terranauts), Jenny Offill (Weather, Dept. of Speculation), and Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death, Lagoon) were in conversation with moderator Sean Murphy (Founder & Executive Director, 1455).
The recording and transcript for this event is now available.
Sean Murphy
Nnedi Okorafor
Jenny Offill
T.C. Boyle
We are excited to announce that Deesha Philyaw's The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (West Virginia University Press) has been selected as the winner of the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction!"Choosing from among our five exceptional finalists was a supremely difficult...
Souvankham Thammavongsa
Your support enables PEN/Faullkner Foundation programs such as Literary Conversations, Education Programs for DC public schools and the PEN/Faulkner awards.
Thank you!
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