PEN America revealed the finalists for its annual literary awards, with Percival Everett, Ramona Emerson, and Imani Perry among the authors in contention for the prizes, and Tina Fey winning a special award.
Everett made the shortlist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, given to “a book-length work of any genre for its originality, merit, and impact,” for his novel Dr. No. Also named finalists were Nick Drnaso for Acting Class, Bernadette Mayer for Milkweed Smithereens, Noor Naga for If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, and Sofia Samatar for The White Mosque.
Emerson was named a finalist for two prizes, the PEN Open Book Award, given to a book in any genre by an author of color, and the the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut novel, for her book Shutter. The other finalists for the PEN/Hemingway Award are Lisa Hsiao Chen for Activities of Daily Living, Oscar Hokeah for Calling for a Blanket Dance, Alyssa Songsiridej for Little Rabbit, and Ryan Lee Wong for Which Side Are You On.
Perry made the shortlist for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for nonfiction for South to America, along with Eve Fairbanks for The Inheritors, Kelly Lytle Hernández forBad Mexicans, Martin Sixsmith for The War of Nerves, and Javier Zamora for Solito.
PEN America also announced that Fey is its winner of the 2023 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award. Previous winners of the prize have included Tom Stoppard, George C. Wolfe, and Elaine May.
The winners of the awards will be announced at a ceremony in New York on March 2, featuring actor Kal Penn as host and a roster of presenters including Rachel Dratch, Robert Pinsky, and Molly Ringwald. A full list of the finalists is available at the PEN website.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
