PEN America conferred nearly $350,000 to writers and translators at its 62nd annual Literary Awards on March 31, 2026, held at The Town Hall in Midtown Manhattan and hosted by the performer Murray Hill. The ceremony, one of the largest annual prize nights in American letters, spread its honors across fiction, nonfiction, essay, translation and career achievement.
The night’s biggest prize
The evening’s largest single award, the $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, went to artist and writer Cannupa Hanska Luger for SURVIVA: A Future Ancestral Field Guide, a genre-bending work of Indigenous futurism conceived as a graphic novel and art book. The prize recognizes a book of original literary merit that breaks new ground. Luger has described the project — modeled on a U.S. military survival guide — as full of Indigenous knowledge “militarized, weaponized, and recontextualized,” according to a PEN America interview.
Career and essay honors
PEN America gave its PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature to the Haitian American novelist Edwidge Danticat, recognizing a body of work spanning fiction, memoir and essays on Haiti and its diaspora.
The PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay went to Jamaica Kincaid for Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974–, a collection drawing on decades of her essays and criticism. Playwright Julia Cho received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award.
A starry presenter list
The ceremony leaned on a roster of literary and stage notables as presenters, including Booker Prize–winning novelist Marlon James, journalist and author Adam Higginbotham, actress and singer Emmy Rossum and Tony Award–winning playwright David Henry Hwang. The evening featured performances by Broadway singer Amber Iman and the Grammy-winning Ulysses Owens Jr. Band.
Why it matters
PEN America’s Literary Awards are among the most consequential prizes in the U.S. publishing world, both for the money they direct to writers and translators — fields where awards can materially change a career — and for the visibility they confer. The organization, headquartered in New York, doubles as a leading free-expression advocacy group, which gives its annual ceremony a civic dimension beyond the books themselves. This year’s honors, anchored by Luger’s Indigenous-futurist field guide and lifetime recognition for Danticat and Kincaid, were handed out before a full house at The Town Hall.
Verification
- Ceremony date (March 31, 2026), venue (The Town Hall), host (Murray Hill), and “nearly $350,000” total — PEN America winners announcement: https://pen.org/2026-literary-awards-winners/
- Cannupa Hanska Luger’s $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for “SURVIVA: A Future Ancestral Field Guide” and his description of the book — PEN America interview: https://pen.org/cannupa-hanska-luger-interview/
- Edwidge Danticat (PEN/Nabokov), Jamaica Kincaid (essay award for “Putting Myself Together”), and Julia Cho (PEN/Laura Pels theater award) — PEN America winners page: https://pen.org/2026-literary-awards-winners/
- Presenters (Marlon James, Adam Higginbotham, Emmy Rossum, David Henry Hwang) and performers (Amber Iman, Ulysses Owens Jr. Band) — PEN America 62nd Literary Awards release: https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-62nd-annual-literary-awards/
Frequently Asked Questions
- When and where were the 2026 PEN America Literary Awards?
- The 62nd annual ceremony was held March 31, 2026, at The Town Hall in Midtown Manhattan, hosted by performer Murray Hill. The awards conferred nearly $350,000 to writers and translators.
- Who won the biggest prize?
- Cannupa Hanska Luger won the $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award — the evening's largest — for 'SURVIVA: A Future Ancestral Field Guide,' a work of Indigenous futurism.
- Who received the career and essay honors?
- Edwidge Danticat received the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, and Jamaica Kincaid won the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay for 'Putting Myself Together.' Playwright Julia Cho won the PEN/Laura Pels theater award.
- Who presented at the ceremony?
- Presenters included Booker Prize–winning novelist Marlon James, author Adam Higginbotham, actress Emmy Rossum and playwright David Henry Hwang, with performances by Amber Iman and the Ulysses Owens Jr. Band.