PEN/Hemingway Award 1980: Complete list of winners

The PEN/Hemingway Award made its mark on the literary world in 1980 by honoring debut novelists who demonstrated the kind of unflinching honesty and stylistic precision that Ernest Hemingway himself championed. Established to recognize exceptional first novels, the award carries particular weight in the American literary landscape—it’s the kind of honor that can launch a career, bringing serious critical attention to writers who might otherwise struggle to find their audience in an increasingly crowded publishing landscape. The 1980 selection stood as a testament to the award’s commitment to identifying fresh talent with something vital to say.

That year’s winner, Alan Saperstein’s Mom Kills Kids and Self, exemplified exactly the kind of bold, unflinching narrative voice the award seeks to celebrate. Saperstein’s debut tackles dark material with an unflinching gaze, the sort of literary courage that resonates with an award bearing Hemingway’s name. The novel’s unflinching examination of family dysfunction and despair marked Saperstein as a writer unafraid to confront uncomfortable truths—a quality that has always defined the award’s winners and continues to draw readers and critics alike to the PEN/Hemingway roster year after year.

Here’s a closer look at what made the 1980 PEN/Hemingway Award announcement significant:

Debut Novel

• Mom Kills Kids and Self by Alan Saperstein