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