PEN America has announced the longlists for the 2017 PEN America Literary Awards. This year’s awards will confer nearly $315,000 to writers and translators whose exceptional literary works were published in 2016.
PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction($25,000): To an author whose debut work—a first novel or collection of short stories published in 2016—represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise.
- Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
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PEN/DIamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay($10,000): For a book of essays published in 2016 that exemplifies the dignity and esteem that the essay form imparts to literature.
2. Known and Strange Things – Teju Cole
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PEN Open Book Award ($5,000): For an exceptional book-length work of literature by an author of color published in 2016.
3. Blackass – A. Igoni Barrett
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4. The Book of Memory – Petina Gappah
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5. Behold the Dreamers – Imbolo Mbue
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6. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours – Helen Oyeyemi
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Read up on the other shortlisted authors and judges here