Gisteren is de eerste reeks winnaars bekend gemaakt van de PEN Literary Award 2014. Een paar grote prijzen (zoals PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction en PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction) van $ 25.000,- worden pas in september bekend gemaakt tijdens de uitreikingsceremonie.

De lijst van prijswinnaars is een beetje een ratjetoe, dankzij de soms wat vreemde categorieën (zoals de PEN/Edward and Lily Tuck Award for Paraguayan Literature) die dankzij verschillende sponsoren in het leven zijn geroepen. Hier is de volledige lijst, overgenomen van PEN:

PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, Founded by Barbara Kingsolver ($25,000): To an author of an unpublished novel that addresses issues of social justice. The prize also includes a publishing contract with Algonquin Books.

Jury: Terry McMillan, Nancy Pearl, and Kathy Pories

Winnaar: And West is West, Ron Childress

PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay ($10,000): For a book of essays published in 2013 that exemplifies the dignity and esteem the essay form imparts to literature.

Jury: Geoff Dyer, Stanley Fish, Ariel Levy, and Cheryl Strayed

Winner: Critical Mass (Doubleday), James Wolcott

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 2013.

Jury: Akiko Busch, Rivka Galchen, and Eileen Pollack

Winnaar: High Price (Harper), Dr. Carl Hart

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. This is the inaugural year of the Award for an Emerging American Playwright.

Jury: John Lithgow, Elizabeth Streb, and Maria Tucci

Master American Dramatist

Winnaar: David Rabe

American Playwright in Mid-Career ($7,500)

Winnaar: Donald Margulies

Emerging American Playwright ($2,500)

Winnaar: Laura Marks

PEN Open Book Award ($5,000): For an exceptional book-length work of literature by an author of color published in 2013.

Jury: Catherine Chung, Randa Jarrar, and Monica Youn

Winnaars:

domina Un/blued (Tupelo Press), Ruth Ellen Kocher

Cowboys and East Indians (FiveChapters Books), Nina McConigley

PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography ($5,000): For a distinguished biography published in 2013.

Jury: James Atlas, Lisa Cohen, and Wendy Gimbel

Winnaar: Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), Linda Leavell

PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing ($5,000): To honor a nonfiction book on the subject of sports published in 2013.

Jury: Joel Drucker, Chad Harbach, and Jackie MacMullan

Winnaar: League of Denial (Crown Archetype), Mark Fainaru-Wada & Steve Fainaru

PEN/Steven Kroll Award for Picture Book Writing ($5,000): To a writer for an exceptional story illustrated in a picture book published in 2013.

Jury: Mac Barnett, Ted Lewin, and Elizabeth Winthrop

Winnaar: The King of Little Things (Peachtree Publishers), Bil Lepp

PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry ($5,000): To a poet whose distinguished and growing body of work to date represents a notable and accomplished presence in American literature.

Jury: Peg Boyers, Toi Derricotte, and Rowan Ricardo Phillips

Winnaar: Frank Bidart

PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship ($5,000): To an author of children’s or young-adult fiction, who has published at least two books, to complete a book-length work-in-progress.

Jury: Kathi Appelt, Johanna Hurwitz, and Padma Venkatraman

Winnaar: The Taste of Elephant Tears, Linda Oatman High

PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing ($5,000): To a writer whose body of work represents an exceptional contribution to the field.

Jury: Kostya Kennedy, David Rosenthal, and John Schulian

Winnaar: Dave Anderson

PEN Award for Poetry in Translation ($3,000): For a book-length translation of poetry into English published in 2013.

Judge: Kimiko Hahn

Winnaar: Diaries of Exile by Yannis Ritsos (Archipelago), Karen Emmerich & Edmund Keeley

PEN Translation Prize ($3,000): For a book-length translation of prose into English published in 2013.

Jury: Ann Goldstein, Becka McKay, and Katherine Silver

Winnaar: Autobiography of a Corpse by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky (New York Review Books), Joanne Turnbull & Nikolai Formozov

PEN/Edward and Lily Tuck Award for Paraguayan Literature ($3,000): To a living author of a major work of Paraguayan literature not yet translated into English.

Jury: Idra Novey, Yvette Siegert, and Mark Statman.

Winnaar: En Tacumbú (El Lector), Raúl Silva Alonso