PEN/Hemingway Award Debut Novel Winners — Complete List (1976–2026) Home › PEN/Hemingway Award › Debut Novel The Correspondent by Virginia Evans 2026PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler 2025PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Countries of Origin by Fuentes Javier 2024PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah 2023PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters 2022PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn 2021PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar 2020PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon There There by Tommy Orange 2019PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Chemistry by Weike Wang 2018PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi 2017PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh 2016PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Elegy on Kinderklavier by Arna Bontemps Hemenway 2015PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo 2014PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers 2013PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Open City by Teju Cole 2012PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse 2011PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka 2010PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living by Michael Dahlie 2009PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris 2008PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Brief Encounters With Che Guevara by Ben Fountain 2007PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li 2006PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon GraceLand by Chris Abani 2005PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh 2004PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. W by George Brownstein 2003PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Mary and O’Neil by Justin Cronin 2002PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon An Obedient Father by Akhil Sharma 2001PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri 2000PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Homestead by Rosina Lippi 1999PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon A Private State by Charlotte Bacon 1998PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Ocean of Words by Ha Jin 1997PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee 1996PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon The Grass Dancer by Susan Power 1995PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon The Magic of Blood by Dagoberto Gilb 1994PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones 1993PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Wartime Lies by Louis Begley 1992PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Maps to Anywhere by Bernard Cooper 1991PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon The Ice at the Bottom of the World by Mark Richard 1990PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton 1989PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Imagining Argentina by Lawrence Thornton 1988PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Tongues of Flame by Mary Ward Brown 1987PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Lady's Time by Alan V. Hewat 1986PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Dreams of Sleep by Josephine Humphreys 1985PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase 1984PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason 1983PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson 1982PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Household Words by Joan Silber 1981PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Mom Kills Kids and Self by Alan Saperstein 1980PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Hasen by Reuben Bercovitch 1979PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon A Way of Life, Like Any Other by Darcy O'Brien 1978PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Speedboat by Renata Adler 1977PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon Parthian Shot by Loyd Little 1976PEN/HemingwayDebut Novel View on Amazon
