2015 PEN Literary Awards Program for Email.Pdf
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PEN President ANDREW SOLOMON and Awards Committee Chair MONIQUE TRUONG present the MASTER OF CEREMONIES JAMES HANNAHAM THE NEW SCHOOL THE AUDITORIUM, 66 WEST 12TH STREET, NEW YORK CITY 6:30 PM, RECEPTION TO FOLLOW PEN wishes to thank tonight’s presenters who represent PEN’s diverse membership of novelists, poets, translators, journalists, and literary citizens, as well as all of this year’s dedicated judges. To read the judges’ full citations for this year’s winners, please visit PEN.org. WELCOME REMARKS OPENING ADDRESS Luis Jaramillo Andrew Solomon Director, School of Writing President The New School PEN American Center 2015 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony MASTER OF CEREMONIES James Hannaham PRESENTERS Marie Howe Theresa Rebeck Damion Searls Parul Sehgal Monique Truong CLOSING REMARKS Suzanne Nossel Executive Director PEN American Center congratulates Ian Buruma author of THEATER OF CRUELTY: ART, FILM, AND THE SHADOWS OF WAR selected as a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay Peter Bush translator of THE GRAY NOTEBOOK by Josep Pla on being shortlisted for the PEN Translation Prize www.nyrb.com 2 TRANSLATION AWARDS PEN/RALPH MANHEIM MEDAL FOR TRANSLATION For a translator whose career has demonstrated a commitment to excellence through the body of his or her work. WINNER Burton Watson “For the inventor of classical East Asian poetry for our time. His work inspires us now, and into the future.” —From the PEN Translation Committee’s citation PEN AWARD FOR POETRY IN TRANSLATION For a book-length translation of poetry into English published in 2014. WINNER Eliza Griswold for her translation from the Pashto of I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) “Their landays–couplets passed on anonymously by ancient tradition, now shared through covert phone calls and social media–serve as testimony, snapshots of otherwise hidden subjectivities, and politically vivid, feminist texts” —From the judge’s citation: Ana Božičević 3 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS congratulates BURTON WATSON, scholar and translator of Chinese and Japanese literature, on receiving a lifetime achievement award 2015 PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation “Burton Watson’s lifelong dedication to Chinese literature becomes a gift to us all.” —Gary Snyder “Translation of any of the classics . from the hand of Burton Watson is an event to be welcomed with gratitude.” —Journal of Asian Studies 4 CUP.COLUMBIA.EDU · CUPBLOG.ORG TRANSLATION AWARDS PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE For a book-length translation of prose into English published in 2014. WINNER Denise Newman for her translation from the Danish of Baboon by Naja Marie Aidt (Two Lines Press) “One can imagine the challenge of conveying the psychological depths just barely concealed beneath Aidt’s measured words, and Newman accomplishes this feat with remarkable skill. It is impossible to miss the urgency and deep hu- manity of each of these stories.” —From the judges’ citation: Heather Cleary, Lucas Klein, Tess Lewis, and Allison Markin Powell FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX congratulates our 2015 PEN Literary Awards winners and finalists I Am the Beggar of the World Translated by ELIZA GRISWOLD with photographs by Seamus Murphy Winner of the 2015 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation The Queen’s Bed ANNA WHITELOCK Winner of the 2015 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography The Dog Breathturn into The Symmetry Teacher JACK LIVINGS Timestead ANDREI BITOV Finalist for the PAUL CELAN Translated by PEN/Robert W. Bingham Translated by POLLY GANNON Prize for Debut Fiction PIERRE JORIS Finalist for the Finalist for the PEN Translation Prize PEN Award for Poetry in Translation www.fsgbooks.com 5 TRANSLATION AWARDS PEN/HEIM TRANSLATION FUND GRANTS ($2,000-$4,000) To support the translation of book-length works into English. Judges: Esther Allen, Mitzi Angel, Peter Blackstock, Howard Goldblatt, Sara Khalili, Michael F. Moore*, Declan Spring, and Alex Zucker (*Voting Chair of the PEN/Heim Advisory Board) WINNERS Allison Charette Beyond the Rice Fields by Naivo From the French (Available for Publication) Jennifer Croft The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk From the Polish (Available for Publication) Stephan Delbos The Absolute Gravedigger by Vítězslav Nezval From the Czech (Forthcoming from Twisted Spoon Press) Amanda DeMarco New Inventions and the Latest Innovations by Gaston de Pawlowski From the French (Forthcoming from Wakefield Press) Adriana Jacobs The Truffle Eye by Vaan Nguyen From the Hebrew (Available for Publication) Roy Kesey The Cousins by Aurora Venturini From the Spanish (Available for Publication) Lee Klein Revulsion: Thomas Bernhard in San Salvador by Horacio Castellanos Moya From the Spanish (Available for Publication) 6 TRANSLATION AWARDS Dong Li The Gleaner Song—Selected Poems by Song Lin by Song Lin From the Mandarin Chinese (Available for Publication) Meg Matich Cold Moons by Magnús Sigurðsson From the Icelandic (Available for Publication) Jacob Moe Part Time Dragons by Maria Mitsora From the Greek (Forthcoming from Yale University Press) Rajiv Mohabir Holi Songs of Demerara by Lalbihari Sharma From the Awadhi/Bhojpuri Hindi (Available for Publication) Takami Nieda GO by Kazuki Kaneshiro From the Japanese (Available for Publication) Zoë Perry Opisanie Świata by Veronica Stigger From the Portuguese (Available for Publication) Will Schutt The Selected Poems of Edoardo Sanguineti by Edoardo Sanguineti From the Italian (Available for Publication) Sophie Seita Subsisters. Selected Poems by Uljana Wolf From the German (Forthcoming from Belladonna*) Simon Wickhamsmith The End of the Dark Era by Tseveendorjin Oidov From the Mongolian (Available for Publication) 7 BOOK AWARDS PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD For a book of literary nonfiction on the subject of the physical or biological sciences published in 2014. WINNER Joshua Horwitz War of the Whales: A True Story (Simon & Schuster) “Horwitz’s dogged reporting . .combined with crisp, cinematic writing, produces a powerful narra- tive about the collision of technology in the name of national security and the seemingly quixotic attempt to preserve our living oceans.” —From the judges’ citation: Sue Halpern, Marie Myung-Ok Lee, and Carl Zimmer HENRY HOLT & COMPANY congratulates ELIZABETH KOLBERT author of THE SIXTH EXTINCTION Finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and JONATHAN SCHUPPE author of A CHANCE TO WIN Recognized as a longlisted author for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award 8 PEN/JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH AWARD FOR NONFICTION To an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective and illuminating important contemporary issues which has been published in 2013 or 2014. WINNER Sheri Fink Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (Crown) “Five Days at Memorial shows the power of narra- tive art to enable us to understand life backwards so that we might live our lives forwards with greater understanding.” —From the judges’ citation: Andrew Blechman, Paul Elie, Azadeh Moaveni, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, and Paul Reyes Crown Publishers congratulates SHERI FINK author of FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL WINNER OF THE 2015 PEN/JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH AWARD CROWN 9 BOOK AWARDS PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY For a distinguished biography published in 2014. WINNER Anna Whitelock The Queen’s Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth’s Court (Sarah Crichton Books/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux) “The Queen’s Bed is both a fascinating biography of one of the most powerful women in history and a spectacular portrait of an era.” —From the judges’ citation: Emily Bernard, Nicholas Fox Weber, and Jon Meacham www.PegasusBooks.com Distributed By W. W. Norton & Company 10 BOOK AWARDS PEN/ESPN AWARD FOR LITERARY SPORTS WRITING To honor a nonfiction book on the subject of sports published in 2014. WINNER John Branch Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard (W. W. Norton & Company) “Through meticulous reporting and pitch perfect prose, Branch has constructed a kind of bildung- sroman, the education of a young athlete in the hard ways of life.” —From the judges’ citation: Rich Cohen, George Dohrmann, and Jonathan Mahler P RINCETON U N IVERSITY P RESS CONGRATULATES David Bromwich Author of Moral Imagination: Essays Finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay “A historically informed examination of moral imagination and human sympathy, as seen through the lives of such figures as Edmund Burke, Mohandas K. Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” —Sewell Chan, New York Times press.princeton.edu 11 BOOK AWARDS PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE FOR DEBUT FICTION To an author whose debut work—a first novel or collection of short stories published in 2014—represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise. Judges: Caroline Fraser, Katie Kitamura, Paul La Farge, and Victor LaValle The winner will be announced during the awards ceremony. FINALISTS Molly Antopol The UnAmericans (W. W. Norton & Company) Cynthia Bond Ruby (Hogarth) Phil Klay Redeployment (Penguin Press) Jack Livings The Dog (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Merritt Tierce Love Me Back (Doubleday) PEN joins the judges in congratulating all the finalists being recognized for this literary achievement. To read the judges’ citation for the winner, please visit PEN.org/awards, where you can read excerpts from all of the finalists’ works. 12 BOOK AWARDS PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD FOR THE ART OF THE ESSAY For a book of essays published in 2014 that exemplifies the dignity and esteem that the essay form imparts to literature. Judges: Diane Johnson, Dahlia Lithwick, Vijay Seshadri, and Mark Slouka The winner will be announced during the awards ceremony. FINALISTS David Bromwich Moral Imagination (Princeton University Press) Ian Buruma Theater of Cruelty: Art, Film, and the Shadow of War (New York Review Books) Charles D’Ambrosio Loitering: New and Collected Essays (Tin House Books) Leslie Jamison The Empathy Exams (Graywolf Press) Angela Pelster Limber (Sarabande Books) PEN joins the judges in congratulating all the finalists being recognized for this literary achievement.