PEN/Hemingway Award • Living Canon

PEN/Hemingway Award

The PEN/Hemingway Award honors an outstanding debut novel by an American author. Established in 1976 by Mary Hemingway, it recognizes exceptional first works of fiction and often highlights emerging voices that go on to shape contemporary literature.

Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler
2025 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Countries of Origin by Fuentes Javier
2024 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah
2023 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
2022 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
2021 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar
2020 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
There There by Tommy Orange
2019 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Chemistry by Weike Wang
2018 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
2017 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
2016 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Elegy on Kinderklavier by Arna Bontemps Hemenway
2015 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
2014 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
2013 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Open City by Teju Cole
2012 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse
2011 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka
2010 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living by Michael Dahlie
2009 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
2008 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Brief Encounters With Che Guevara by Ben Fountain
2007 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li
2006 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
GraceLand by Chris Abani
2005 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh
2004 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. W by George Brownstein
2003 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Mary and O’Neil by Justin Cronin
2002 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
An Obedient Father by Akhil Sharma
2001 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
2000 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Homestead by Rosina Lippi
1999 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
A Private State by Charlotte Bacon
1998 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
1997 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee
1996 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
The Grass Dancer by Susan Power
1995 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
The Magic of Blood by Dagoberto Gilb
1994 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones
1993 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Wartime Lies by Louis Begley
1992 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Maps to Anywhere by Bernard Cooper
1991 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
The Ice at the Bottom of the World by Mark Richard
1990 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
1989 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Imagining Argentina by Lawrence Thornton
1988 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Tongues of Flame by Mary Ward Brown
1987 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Lady's Time by Alan V. Hewat
1986 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Dreams of Sleep by Josephine Humphreys
1985 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase
1984 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason
1983 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
1982 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Household Words by Joan Silber
1981 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Mom Kills Kids and Self by Alan Saperstein
1980 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Hasen by Reuben Bercovitch
1979 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
A Way of Life, Like Any Other by Darcy O'Brien
1978 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Speedboat by Renata Adler
1977 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel
Parthian Shot by Loyd Little
1976 PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel

Debut Novel

See also