PEN/Hemingway Award 2022: Complete list of winners

The PEN/Hemingway Award has long championed the most promising new voices in fiction, and the 2022 winners continue that proud tradition of recognizing fearless, inventive storytelling. This year’s honoree for Debut Novel is Torrey Peters’s Detransition, Baby, a witty and tender exploration of identity, love, and chosen family that immediately announced Peters as a major voice in contemporary fiction. The novel’s unflinching humor and emotional depth resonated with judges, marking it as the kind of debut that signals a significant new talent emerging in American letters.

The PEN/Hemingway Award, administered by PEN America, remains one of the most prestigious recognitions for first-time novelists, carrying forward Ernest Hemingway’s legacy of supporting writers who demonstrate genuine literary merit and originality. Peters’s win underscores a broader shift in what contemporary debut fiction looks like—stories that blend comedy with profound character work, narratives that center perspectives long underrepresented in literary prizes. Detransition, Baby doesn’t just tell a story; it expands what’s possible within the form, proving why the 2022 PEN/Hemingway Award selection matters beyond the accolade itself.

Here’s a closer look at this year’s distinguished winner:

Debut Novel

• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters