Facts about PEN/Faulkner Award
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Colson Whitehead won the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2020 for The Nickel Boys, which was later adapted into a film released in 2023.
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Poet and essayist Rita Dove served as judge for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2022, representing the literary community's continued involvement in selecting American fiction's most honored works.
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Notable authors who have won the PEN/Faulkner Award include George Garrett in 1983, Ann Packer in 2001, and Jesmyn Ward in 2011, representing diverse voices across three decades of American fiction.
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Every PEN/Faulkner Award winner's name remains confidential until the official announcement, protecting judges from external pressure and ensuring decisions rest solely on manuscript quality.
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Fiction writers can submit their work anonymously to the PEN/Faulkner Award, with manuscripts identified only by number rather than author name to prevent bias in judging.
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Washington D.C.-based PEN/Faulkner Foundation has awarded nearly $600,000 in total prize money to American fiction writers since establishing the award in 1981.
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Marilynne Robinson won the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2005 for Gilead, a novel that subsequently won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the following year.
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In 2023, Ruth Ozeki became the first author to win the PEN/Faulkner Award twice, previously winning in 2013 for A Tale for the Time Being.
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Authors who win the PEN/Faulkner Award receive a $15,000 cash prize, one of the most substantial monetary awards for American fiction writers.
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The award's five-judge panel includes both writers and literary professionals who select winners from anonymous submissions to ensure impartial evaluation.
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Since its founding in 1981, the PEN/Faulkner Award has honored over 40 American authors for their unpublished or recently published fiction.