Alan Michael Parker is a cartoonist, novelist, and poet; he has written or edited eighteen books, including four novels and nine collections of poems. Awards for his writing include three Pushcart Prizes, two selections in Best American Poetry, the North Carolina Book...
Board President
Lakita Wilson sits on a chair in the front of the classroom, surrounded by a dozen third graders at her feet. The children are transfixed by her, listening as she explains the history of the Black Lives Matter movement, how it was ignited by the death of an innocent...
We are excited to announce that Yiyun Li’s The Book of Goose (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) has been selected as the winner of the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. “In December, we were pleased to honor Yiyun Li with the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the...
PEN/Faulkner’s Literature on Screen series highlights writers whose work has been reimagined as a film or TV show. Our latest installment presents Louis Bayard’s The Pale Blue Eye, a vibrant historical mystery with a young Edgar Allan Poe at its center that was adapted into a 2022 Netflix film directed by Scott Cooper. The author and director will be joined by moderator Clay Smith, the Literary Director of the Library of Congress, in a conversation exploring storytelling, craft, and the creative process. The event will feature a reading, clips from the film, and an audience Q&A.
Scott Cooper made his feature film directorial debut, in 2009, with Fox Searchlight’s award-winning, CRAZY HEART, which he also wrote and produced. The film, which starred Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall, earned three Academy Award...
Judges have selected the five finalists for the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, America’s most prestigious peer-juried literary prize. The finalists are If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery (MCD), Fruiting Bodies by Kathryn Harlan (Norton), The Islands by...
DATE | March 23, 2023 at 7 pm ET
LOCATION | Online Event
Writing a novel can be a lonely endeavor. Some authors find solace and inspiration in collaboration—partnering with a writer who brings a new perspective, a wealth of experiences, and different strengths. Join two pairs of novelists, Christine Pride and Jo Piazza (We Are Not Like Them) and Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman (The Thread Collectors), in conversation with author and critic Martha Anne Toll about the processes, tensions, and rewards of collaboration.
Alyson Richman is the USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of several historical novels, including The Velvet Hours, The Garden of Letters, and The Lost Wife, which is currently in development for a major motion picture. Alyson graduated from Wellesley...
Shaunna J. Edwards has a BA in literature from Harvard College and a JD from NYU School of Law. A former corporate lawyer, she now works in diversity, equity and inclusion. She is a native Louisianian, raised in New Orleans, and currently lives in Harlem with her...
Jo Piazza is a bestselling author, podcast creator, and award-winning journalist. She is the national and international bestselling author of many critically acclaimed novels and nonfiction books including We Are Not Like Them, Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, The...
Christine Pride is a writer, editor, and longtime publishing veteran. She’s held editorial posts at many different trade imprints, including Doubleday, Broadway, Crown, Hyperion, and Simon & Schuster. As an editor, Christine has published a range of books, with a...
2023 PEN/Faulkner Award WinnerYiyun Li is the author of several works of fiction—Must I Go, Where Reasons End, Kinder Than Solitude, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, The Vagrants, and Gold Boy, Emerald Girl—and the memoir Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in...
2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction FinalistJonathan Escoffery is the recipient of the 2020 Plimpton Prize for Fiction, a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and the 2020 ASME Award for Fiction. His fiction has appeared in The Paris Review,...
2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction FinalistLaura Warrell is a contributor to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Tin House Writers’ Workshop, and is a graduate of the creative writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has appeared in HuffPost,...
Longlisted for the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionMat Johnson is a Philip H. Knight Chair of the Humanities at the University of Oregon. His publications include the novels Loving Day and Pym, the nonfiction novella The Great Negro Plot, and the graphic novel...
Longlisted for the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionMeng Jin the author of Little Gods, a finalist for both the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award and the Los Angeles Times’s Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Her short fiction has appeared in...
2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction FinalistDionne Irving is originally from Toronto, Ontario. She is the author of THE ISLANDS (Catapult) and QUINT (7.13 Books) She currently teaches in the Creative Writing Program and the Initiative on Race and Resilience at the...
2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction FinalistKathryn Harlan received an MFA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she now teaches writing. She was the recipient of the 2019 August Derleth Graduate Creative Writing Prize. Her work has appeared in the...
Longlisted for the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionConner Habib hosts the podcast Against Everyone with Conner Habib, which features in-depth conversations on topics as broad as punk rock, philosophy, fiction, and occultism. His writing has appeared in multiple...
Longlisted for the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionBorn and raised in Puerto Rico, Mayra Cuevas is the author of the teen novels Does My Body Offend You? and Salty, Bitter, Sweet. Her short story Resilient was published as part of the anthology FORESHADOW. Mayra is...
Longlisted for the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionRubén Degollado is an educator from Texas and the author of The Family Izquierdo: A Novel and the young adult novel Throw. His fiction has appeared in Beloit Fiction Journal, Gulf Coast, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and...
We are thrilled to announce the longlist of books for the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, America’s most prestigious peer-juried literary prize. The longlist includes the following ten titles: Does My Body Offend You? by Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt (Knopf)...
LITERARY CONVERSATIONSMemoirs open windows into lives, granting readers access to deeply personal narratives. Whether they reflect our own experiences or challenge us to engage with new ones, the best memoirs enhance and complicate our understanding of the world. Join...
Margo Jefferson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural critic and a recipient of the 2022 Windham-Campbell Prize in Nonfiction. She has published three books: Constructing a Nervous System: a memoir; Negroland: a memoir, which won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle...
Isaac Fitzgerald is the New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts (winner of a New England Book Award). He appears frequently on The Today Show and is also the author of the bestselling children’s book How to Be a Pirate as well as the co-author of...
Nicole Chung is the author of the forthcoming memoir A Living Remedy (April 4, 2023) and the national bestseller All You Can Ever Know (2018). Named a Best Book of the Year by over twenty outlets, including NPR, The Washington Post, Time, and Library Journal, All You...
Lisa Page Literary Education Fellow
At our Literary State of the Union event, we had the good fortune of hearing from several DC-area writers in response to the following prompt: "What Does Being a Writer Teach Me about the State of the Union?" We are delighted to be able to share two of their...
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
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