PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Encyclopedia
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation
to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US $15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US $5000. The foundation brings the winner and runners-up to Washington, D.C.
to read from their works at the Great Hall of the Folger Shakespeare Library
. The organization claims to be "the largest peer-juried award in the country."
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is an outgrowth of William Faulkner's
generosity in donating his 1949 Nobel Prize
winnings, "to establish a fund to support and encourage new fiction writers." Mary Lee Settle
was also one of the founders after controversy at the 1979 National Book Award
. It is affiliated with the writers' organization International PEN
.
The award was first given in 1980.
PEN/Faulkner Foundation
PEN/Faulkner Foundation is an independent charitable arts foundation which supports the art of writing and encourages readers of all ages...
to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US $15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US $5000. The foundation brings the winner and runners-up to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to read from their works at the Great Hall of the Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period...
. The organization claims to be "the largest peer-juried award in the country."
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is an outgrowth of William Faulkner's
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
generosity in donating his 1949 Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winnings, "to establish a fund to support and encourage new fiction writers." Mary Lee Settle
Mary Lee Settle
Mary Lee Settle was an American writer and winner of the National Book Award for her 1978 novel Blood Tie...
was also one of the founders after controversy at the 1979 National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
. It is affiliated with the writers' organization International PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
.
The award was first given in 1980.
Award winners
- 2011 Deborah Eisenberg, The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg
- 2010 Sherman AlexieSherman AlexieSherman Joseph Alexie, Jr. is a writer, poet, filmmaker, and occasional comedian. Much of his writing draws on his experiences as a Native American. Two of Alexie's best known works are The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven , a book of short stories and Smoke Signals, a film...
, War DancesWar DancesWar Dances is a 2009 collection of short stories and poems by Sherman Alexie. It received the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.... - 2009 Joseph O'NeillJoseph O'Neill (born 1964)Joseph O'Neill is a Irish novelist and non-fiction writer. O'Neill's novel Netherland was awarded the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.-Life:...
, NetherlandNetherlandNetherland is a critically acclaimed novel by Joseph O'Neill. It concerns the life of a Dutchman living in New York in the wake of the September 11 attacks who takes up cricket and starts playing at the Staten Island Cricket Club.-Plot summary:... - 2008 Kate ChristensenKate ChristensenKate Christensen is an American novelist. She won the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for her fourth novel, The Great Man, about a painter and the three women in his life. Her previous novels are In the Drink , Jeremy Thrane , and The Epicure's Lament...
, The Great ManThe Great Man (novel)The Great Man: A Novel is a 2007 novel by American author Kate Christensen. It won the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, beating nearly 350 other submissions and earning Christensen the $15,000 top prize. The story takes place five years after the death, at 78, of celebrated painter Oscar... - 2007 Philip RothPhilip RothPhilip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
, EverymanEveryman (novel)Everyman is a novel by Philip Roth, published by Houghton Mifflin in May 2006. The audiobook version is narrated by George Guidall and published by Recorded Books in 2006. It won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2007. It is Roth's third novel to receive the prize.-Plot summary:The book... - 2006 E.L. Doctorow, The MarchThe March (novel)The March is a 2005 historical fiction novel by E. L. Doctorow. It won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award/Fiction .-Plot summary:...
- 2005 Ha JinHa JinJīn Xuěfēi is a contemporary Chinese-American writer and novelist using the pen name Ha Jin . Ha comes from his favorite city, Harbin.-Early life:...
, War TrashWar TrashWar Trash is a novel by the Chinese author Ha Jin, who has long lived in the United States and who writes in English. It takes the form of a memoir written by the fictional character Yu Yuan, a man who eventually becomes a soldier in the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and who is sent to Korea to... - 2004 John UpdikeJohn UpdikeJohn Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
, The Early Stories: 1953–1975The Early Stories: 1953–1975The Early Stories: 1953–1975, published in 2003 by Knopf, is a John Updike book collecting much of his short stories written from the beginning of his writing career, when he was just 21, until 1975... - 2003 Sabina MurraySabina MurraySabina Murray is an award-winning Filipina American screenwriter, and a novelist currently a Professor in the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst.-Background and career:...
, The CapricesThe CapricesThe Caprices is a short story collection by Sabina Murray. It received the 2003 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.면상면상면상면상면상면상... - 2002 Ann PatchettAnn PatchettAnn Patchett is an American author. She received the Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include Run, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, and The Magician's Assistant, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize...
, Bel CantoBel Canto (novel)Bel Canto is a 2001 novel by American author Ann Patchett, published by Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. It was awarded both the Orange Prize for Fiction and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction... - 2001 Philip RothPhilip RothPhilip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
, The Human StainThe Human StainThe Human Stain is a novel by Philip Roth. It is set in late 1990s rural New England. Its first person narrator is 65-year-old author Nathan Zuckerman, a character in previous Roth novels, including American Pastoral and I Married a Communist ; these two books form a loose trilogy with The Human... - 2000 Ha JinHa JinJīn Xuěfēi is a contemporary Chinese-American writer and novelist using the pen name Ha Jin . Ha comes from his favorite city, Harbin.-Early life:...
, WaitingWaiting (novel)Waiting is a novel by award-winning author Ha Jin. The book is based on a true story that Jin heard from his wife when they were visiting her family at an army hospital in China. At the hospital was an army doctor who had waited eighteen years to get a divorce so he could marry his longtime friend,... - 1999 Michael CunninghamMichael CunninghamMichael Cunningham is an American writer, best known for his 1998 novel The Hours, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999.-Early life and education:...
, The HoursThe Hours (novel)The Hours is a 1998 novel written by Michael Cunningham. It won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 1999 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was later made into an Oscar-winning 2002 movie of the same name starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.-Plot introduction:The book... - 1998 Rafi ZaborRafi ZaborRafi Zabor is a Brooklyn, New York music journalist- and musician-turned-novelist. He received the 1998 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for his first novel, The Bear Comes Home, which follows an alto saxophonist - who happens to be a bear - in his pursuit of musical perfection...
, The Bear Comes HomeThe Bear Comes HomeThe Bear Comes Home is a novel written by Rafi Zabor. It won the 1998 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. It was selected as an alternate for the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award.... - 1997 Gina BerriaultGina BerriaultGina Berriault , was an American novelist and short story writer.Berriault was born in Long Beach, California, to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents...
, Women in Their BedsWomen in Their BedsWomen in Their Beds is a short story collection by Gina Berriault. It received the 1996 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 1997 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.... - 1996 Richard FordRichard FordRichard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early...
, Independence DayIndependence Day (novel)Independence Day is a 1995 novel by Richard Ford and the sequel to Ford's 1986 novel The Sportswriter.It won the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1996, the first novel ever to win both awards in a single year.... - 1995 David GutersonDavid GutersonDavid Guterson is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist.-Early life:David Guterson was born May 4, 1956, in Seattle, Washington. During his childhood, he attended Seattle public schools and later attended the University of Washington where he earned Bachelor of...
, Snow Falling on CedarsSnow Falling on CedarsSnow Falling on Cedars is a 1994 novel written by American writer David Guterson. Guterson, who was a teacher at the time, wrote the book in the early morning hours over a ten-year period... - 1994 Philip RothPhilip RothPhilip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
, Operation ShylockOperation ShylockOperation Shylock: A Confession is novelist Philip Roth's 19th book and was published in 1993.-Summary:The novel follows narrator "Philip Roth" on a journey to Israel, where he attends the trial of accused war criminal John Demjanjuk and becomes involved in an intelligence mission—the "Operation... - 1993 E. Annie ProulxE. Annie ProulxEdna Annie Proulx is an American journalist and author. Her second novel, The Shipping News , won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for fiction in 1994, and was made into a film in 2001...
, Postcards - 1992 Don DeLilloDon DeLilloDon DeLillo is an American author, playwright, and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...
, Mao IIMao IIMao II, published in 1991, is Don DeLillo's tenth novel. It was the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1992. The title is derived from a series of Andy Warhol silkscreen prints depicting Mao Zedong. This book was dedicated to DeLillo's editor, Gordon Lish.-Plot summary:A reclusive novelist... - 1991 John Edgar WidemanJohn Edgar WidemanJohn Edgar Wideman is an American writer, professor at Brown University, and sits on the contributing editorial board of the literary journal Conjunctions.-Early life:...
, Philadelphia Fire - 1990 E.L. Doctorow, Billy BathgateBilly BathgateBilly Bathgate is a 1989 novel by author E. L. Doctorow that won the 1989 National Book Critics Circle award for fiction for 1990 and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was the runner up for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize...
- 1989 James SalterJames SalterJames Salter is an American novelist and short-story writer. Once a career officer and pilot in the United States Air Force, he abandoned the military profession in 1957 after successful publication of his first novel, The Hunters.After a brief career at film writing and film directing, Salter...
, Dusk and Other Stories - 1988 T. Coraghessan BoyleT. Coraghessan BoyleTom Coraghessan Boyle is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the mid 1970s, he has published twelve novels and more than 100 short stories...
, World's End - 1987 Richard WileyRichard WileyRichard Wiley is an American novelist and short story writer whose first novel, Soldiers in Hiding won the 1987 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He has published five other novels and a number of short stories ....
, Soldiers in HidingSoldiers in Hiding (novel)Soldiers in Hiding is the first novel by Richard Wiley. It received the 1987 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction... - 1986 Peter TaylorPeter Matthew Hillsman TaylorFor other people named Peter Taylor, see Peter Taylor.Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor was a U.S. author and writer.-Biography:...
, The Old Forest - 1985 Tobias WolffTobias WolffTobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is an American author. He is known for his memoirs, particularly This Boy's Life , and his short stories. He has also written two novels.-Biography:Wolff was born in 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama...
, The Barracks ThiefThe Barracks ThiefThe Barracks Thief is a novella by Tobias Wolff, first published in 1984. The story concerns paratroopers in training during the time of the Vietnam war.... - 1984 John Edgar WidemanJohn Edgar WidemanJohn Edgar Wideman is an American writer, professor at Brown University, and sits on the contributing editorial board of the literary journal Conjunctions.-Early life:...
, Sent for You YesterdaySent for You YesterdaySent for You Yesterday is a novel by the American writer John Edgar Wideman set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the 1970s.The novel tells the story of Albert Wilkes, who after seven years on the run, returns to Homewood, an African American neighborhood of the East End.Sent for You Yesterday is... - 1983 Toby OlsonToby Olson-Life:Through high school and his four years in the Navy as a surgical technician, he lived in California, Arizona, and Texas.He graduated from Occidental College and Long Island University....
, SeaviewSeaview (novel)Seaview is a novel by Toby Olson. It received the 1983 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.... - 1982 David BradleyDavid Bradley (novelist)David Henry Bradley, Jr. is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of Oregon and author of South Street and the The Chaneysville Incident, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1982....
, The Chaneysville IncidentThe Chaneysville IncidentThe Chaneysville Incident is a 1981 novel by David Bradley. It concerns a black historian who investigates an incident involving the death of his father and a prior incident involving the death of some 12 slaves. John, the historian, struggles to solve the mystery of his father, Moses Washington, a... - 1981 Walter AbishWalter AbishWalter Abish is an Austrian-American author of experimental novels and short stories.-Biography:Abish was born in Vienna, Austria to Adolph and Frieda . At a young age, his family fled from the Nazis, traveling first to Italy and Nice before settling in Shanghai from 1940 to 1949...
, How German Is ItHow German Is ItHow German Is It is a novel by Walter Abish, published in 1980. It received PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1981. It is most often classified as a Postmodern work of fiction.-Plot:The Hargenaus were once a noble and revered family...