PEN Center USA named the 11 writers who won this year’s Literary Awards. In addition to the prize itself, each winner will receive a $1000 check. These writers were chosen from a pool of 500 entries.
The 11 categories are fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, research nonfiction, chidren’s/young-adult literature, journalism, translation, drama, screenplay, teleplay, the Graphic Literature Award, and The University of California Press Exceptional First Book Award. The “Graphic Literature Award” was newly added to the award’s categories this year.
Past winners include Woody Allen, Ray Bradbury, Barbara Kingsolver, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Alice Walker. The ceremony for this award will take place at the 20th Annual Literary Awards Festival (LitFest) on November 17th. Other honors that will be celebrated at LitFest include the Freedom to Write Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Award of Honor, and the University of California Exceptional First Book Award. The embedded video features David Mamet introducing Gore Vidal, the 2005 winner for the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The complete list follows after the jump.
The 2010 Pen USA Literary Award Winners
Fiction: Victor Lodato Mathilda Savitch
Poetry: Amy Catanzano Multiversal
Creative Nonfiction: Vicki Forman This Lovely Life
Research Nonfiction: Minal Hajratwala Leaving India: My Family’s Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents
Children’s/Young-Adult Literature: Paul Fleischman The Dunderheads
Journalism: Mary Melton Julius Shulman in 36 Exposures
Translation: Fady Joudah Mahmoud Darwish’s If I Were Another
Drama: Julie Hebert Tree
Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner Up in the Air
Teleplay: Peter Blake House M.D.: The Tyrant
The Graphic Literature Award: Matt Fraction
The University of California Press Exceptional First Book Award: Angela Garcia The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession along the Rio Grande