Every Spring, the JFK Library hosts a celebration to honor the winner of and finalists for the PEN/Hemingway award.
To read about past PEN/Hemingway Awards and other Hemingway related forums, please visit our Hemingway Events page.
PEN/Hemingway Award Recipients
- 2023 Oscar Hokeah, Calling for a Blanket Dance
Finalists: Lisa Hsiao Chen (Activities of Daily Living), Ramona Emerson (Shutter),
Alyssa Songsiridej (Little Rabbit), Ryan Lee Wong (Which Side Are You On) - 2022 Torrey Peters, Detransition, Baby: A Novel
Finalists: Avni Doshi (Burnt Sugar), Carolyn Ferrell (Dear Miss Metropolitan: A Novel),
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Novel), Kirstin Valdez Quade (The Five Wounds: A Novel) - 2021 Kawai Strong Washburn, Sharks in the Time of Saviors
Finalists: Maisy Card (These Ghosts are Family), Raven Leilani (Luster),
Douglas Stewart (Shuggie Bain), C Pam Zhang (How Much of These Hills Is Gold) - 2020 Ruchika Tomar, A Prayer for Travelers
Finalists: Madeline ffitch (Stay and Fight), Regina Porter (The Travelers)
Honorable Mentions: Jamil Jan Kochai (99 Nights in Logar), Tomas Moniz (Big Familia) - 2019 Tommy Orange, There There
Finalists: Akwaeke Emezi (Freshwater), Ling Ma (Severance)
Honorable Mentions: Meghan Kenny (The Driest Season), Nico Walker (Cherry) - 2018 Weike Wang, Chemistry
Finalists: Lisa Ko (The Leavers), Adelia Saunders (Indelible)
Honorable Mentions: Ian Bassingthwaighte (Live from Cairo), Curtis Dawkins (The Graybar Hotel) - 2017 Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing
Finalists: Bill Beverly (Dodgers), Leopoldine Core (When Watched)
Honorable Mentions: Callan Wink (Dog Run Moon), Melissa Yancy (Dog Years) - 2016 Ottessa Moshfegh, Eileen
Finalists: S.M. Hulse (Black River), Margaret Malone (People Like You)
Honorable Mentions: Karim Dimechkie (Lifted by the Great Nothing), Chigozie Obioma (The Fisherman) - 2015 Arna Bontemps Hemenway, Elegy on Kinderklavier
Finalists: Kim Fu (For Today I Am A Boy), Atticus Lish (Preparation for the Next Life)
Honorable Mentions: Mark Chiusano (Marine Park), and Diane Cook (Man V. Nature) - 2014 Noviolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names
Finalists: Anthony Wallace (The Old Priest), Mitchell Jackson (Residue Years)
Honorable Mentions: Jasmine Beach-Ferrara (Damn Love), Ethan Rutherford (The Peripatetic Coffin & Other Stories), Kristopher Jansman (The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards) - 2013 Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds
Finalists: Jennifer duBois (A Partial History of Lost Causes), Vaddey Ratner (In the Shadow of the Banyan)
Honorable Mentions: Catherine Chung (Forgotten Country), Peter M. Wheelwright (As It Is On Earth) - 2012 Teju Cole, Open City
Finalists: Amy Waldman (The Submission), Stephanie Powell Watts (We Are Taking Only What We Need)
Honorable mentions: Marjorie Hudson (Accidental Birds of the Carolinas), Chad Harbach (The Art of Fielding) - 2011 Brando Skyhorse, The Madonnas of Echo Park
Finalists: Patricia Engel (Vida), Suzanne Rivecca (Death is Not an Option)
Honorable mentions: Danielle Evans (Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self ) and Helen Simonson (Major Pettigrew's Last Stand ) - 2010 Brigid Pasulka, A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True
Finalists: C. E. Morgan (All the Living), Abraham Verghese (Cutting for Stone), Mary Beth Keane (The Walking People) and Lydia Peelle (Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing) - 2009 Michael Dahlie, A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living
Finalists: Ed Park (Personal Days), Sana Krasikov (One More Year), Doug Dorst (Alive in the Necropolis) and Matthew Quick (The Silver Linings Playbook) - 2008 Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End
Finalists: Ravi Howard (Like Tress Walking), Rebecca Curtis (Twenty Grand), Margot Singer (The Pale of Settlement) and Gary Schanbacher (Migration Patterns) - 2007 Ben Fountain, Brief Enounters with Che Guevara
Finalists: Rebecca Johns (Icebergs), Yvette Christianse (Unconfessed), Marisha Pessl (The Special Topics in Calamity Physics) and Janna Levin (A Madman Dreams of Turning Machines) - 2006 Yiyun Li, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Finalists: Daniel Alarcon (War by Candlelight), Douglas Trevor (The Thin Year in the Fabric of Space), Jeff Row (The Train to Lo Wu) and Karen Olsson (Waterloo) - 2005 Chris Abani, Graceland
Finalists: Laurie Lynn Drummond (Anything You Say Can and Will be Used Against You), Samina Ali (Madras on Rainy Days), Jerome Richard (The Kiss of the Prison Dancer) and Hannah Tinti (Animal Crackers) - 2004 Jennifer Haigh, Mrs. Kimble
Finalists: Murad Kalam (Night Journey), Z. Z. Packer (Drinking Coffee Elsewhere), Suki Kim (The Interpreters) and Ellen Ullman (The Bug) - 2003 Gabriel Brownstein, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W
Finalists: Chriusite Hodgen (A Jeweler's Eye for Flaw), Gabe Hudson (Dear Mr. President), Jonathan Tel (Arafat's Elephant) and Julia Whitty (A Tortoise for the Queen of Tonga) - 2002 Justin Cronin, Mary and O'Neil
Finalists: Peter Orner (Esther Stories), Man il Suri (The Death of Vishnu), Carolyn Cooke (The Bostons) and Micheline Aharonian Marcom (Three Apples Fell From Heaven) - 2001 Akhhil Sharma, An Obedient Father
Finalists: Mohsin Hamid (Moth Smoke), Tom Paine (Scar Vegas and other Stories), Myla Goldberg (Bee Season) and Elissa Schappel (Use Me) - 2000 Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
- 1999 Rosina Lippi, Homestead
Finalists: Michael Byers (The Coast of Good Intentions), C.S. Godshalk (Kalimantaan), Lan Samantha Change (Hunger) and Michael Knight (Dogfight & Other Stories) - 1998 Charlotte Bacon, A Private State
- 1997 Ha Jin, Oceans of Words
- 1996 Chang-Rae Lee, Native Speaker
- 1995 Susan Power, The Grass Dancer
- 1994 Dagoberto Gilb, The Magic of Blood
- 1993 Edward P. Jones, Lost in the City
- 1992 Louis Begley, Wartime Lies
- 1991 Bernard Cooper, Maps to Anywhere
- 1990 Mark Richard, The Ice at the Bottom of the World
- 1989 Jane Hamilton, The Book of Ruth
- 1988 Lawrence Thornton, Imagining Argentina
- 1987 Mary Ward Brown, Tongues of Flame
- 1986 Alan V. Hewar, Lady's Time
- 1985 Josephine Humphreys, Dream of Sleep
- 1984 Joan Chase, During the Reign of the Queen of Sheba
- 1983 Bobbie Ann Mason, Shiloh and Other Stories
- 1982 Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping
- 1981 Joan Silber, Household Words
- 1980 Alan Saperstein, Mom Kills Kids and Self
- 1979 Reuben Bercovitch, Hasen
- 1978 Darcy O'Brien, A Way of Life, Like Any Other
- 1977 Renata Adler, Speedboat
- 1976 Loyd Little, Parthian Shot