PEN/Hemingway Award 1983: Complete list of winners

The 1983 PEN/Hemingway Award marked a significant moment for short fiction, recognizing Bobbie Ann Mason’s stunning debut collection Shiloh and Other Stories. The PEN/Hemingway Award, presented annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to honor outstanding debut fiction, has long served as a launchpad for writers who would go on to shape American letters. Mason’s win was particularly noteworthy because it acknowledged a collection of interconnected stories rather than a novel—a choice that spoke to the award’s commitment to recognizing diverse forms of literary excellence and new voices working in the short story tradition.

Mason’s Shiloh and Other Stories captured the landscapes and inner lives of working-class Kentuckians with a precision and empathy that felt revelatory. Her characters navigate marriage, work, and the tensions between rural traditions and modern American life with a quiet authenticity that resonated deeply with readers and critics alike. The PEN/Hemingway Award’s recognition of Mason early in her career proved prescient; she would go on to become one of the most celebrated chroniclers of contemporary American experience, with her debut establishing the observational clarity and emotional depth that would define her body of work.

Below, you’ll find the complete list of the 1983 PEN/Hemingway Award winners and what made their work stand out that year.

Debut Novel

• Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason