PEN/Hemingway Award 1984: Complete list of winners

The 1984 PEN/Hemingway Award marked another year of the prestigious prize celebrating exceptional debut fiction. Established to honor Ernest Hemingway’s legacy and recognize promising new voices in American literature, the award has long served as a launching pad for writers who go on to shape the literary landscape for decades to come. This particular year’s selection reflected the committee’s commitment to finding distinctive narratives that showcase the kind of economical prose and emotional depth Hemingway himself championed—qualities that remain timeless in distinguishing truly memorable debut novels.

Joan Chase’s During the Reign of the Queen of Persia claimed the 1984 PEN/Hemingway Award for best debut novel, earning recognition for a work that immediately established Chase as a significant literary talent. The novel’s intricate family saga and masterful exploration of women’s lives within a multigenerational household demonstrated exactly the kind of narrative sophistication and emotional intelligence that the award seeks to recognize. Chase’s win underscored that debut novels could be both formally ambitious and deeply moving—a reminder that first-time novelists were producing work worthy of standing alongside the most celebrated fiction of the era.

The 1984 honorees set the tone for what would become an enduring tradition of the PEN/Hemingway Award identifying breakthrough talent. Below, you’ll find the complete list of that year’s winners and finalists.

Debut Novel

• During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase