Awards & Winners

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US $15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US $5000. Finalists read from their works at the presentation ceremony in the Great Hall of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.. The organization claims it to be "the largest peer-juried award in the country." The award was first given in 1981. The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is an outgrowth of William Faulkner's generosity in using his 1949 Nobel Prize winnings to create the William Faulkner Foundation; among the charitable goals of the foundation was "to establish a fund to support and encourage new fiction writers." The foundation's first award for a "notable first novel," called the William Faulkner Foundation Award, was granted to John Knowles's A Separate Peace in 1961. The foundation was dissolved after 1970. Mary Lee Settle was one of the founders of the PEN/Faulkner award after controversy at the 1979 National Book Award, when PEN voted a boycott on the ground that they were too commercial. It is affiliated with the writers' organization International PEN.
Date Established : 1980

Check all the winners of PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction presented under PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction since 1981 .


Sherman Alexie

Honored for : War Dances

Nominations 2010 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Colson Whitehead Sag Harbor
Barbara Kingsolver The Lacuna
Lorraine M. Lopez Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Stories
Lorrie Moore A Gate at the Stairs

Joseph O'Neill

Honored for : Netherland

Nominations 2009 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Ron Rash Serena
Susan Choi A Person of Interest
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum Ms. Hempel Chronicles
Richard Price Lush Life: A Novel
Joseph O'Neill Netherland

Kate Christensen

Honored for : The Great Man

Nominations 2008 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Kate Christensen The Great Man
Annie Dillard The Maytrees
David Leavitt The Indian Clerk
T. M. McNally The Gateway: Stories
Ron Rash Chemistry and Other Stories

Philip Roth

Honored for : Everyman

Nominations 2007 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Philip Roth Everyman
Charles D'Ambrosio The Dead Fish Museum
Deborah Eisenberg Twilight of the Superheroes
Amy Hempel The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel
Edward P. Jones All Aunt Hagar's Children

E. L. Doctorow

Honored for : The March

Nominations 2006 »

Nominee Nominated Work
E. L. Doctorow The March
Karen Fisher A Sudden Country
William Henry Lewis I Got Somebody in Staunton: Stories
James Salter Last Night: Stories
Bruce Wagner The Chrysanthemum Palace

Ha Jin

Honored for : War Trash

Nominations 2005 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Ha Jin War Trash
Jerome Charyn The Green Lantern: A Romance of Stalinist Russia
Edwidge Danticat The Dew Breaker
Marilynne Robinson Gilead
Steve Yarbrough Prisoners of War

John Updike

Honored for : The Early Stories: 1953\u20131975

Nominations 2004 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Frederick Barthelme Elroy Nights
ZZ Packer Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Caryl Phillips A Distant Shore
Tobias Wolff Old School
John Updike The Early Stories: 1953\u20131975

Sabina Murray

Honored for : The Caprices

Nominations 2003 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Sabina Murray The Caprices
Peter Cameron The City of Your Final Destination
William Kennedy Roscoe
Victor LaValle The Ecstatic
Gilbert Sorrentino Little Casino

Ann Patchett

Honored for : Bel Canto

Nominations 2002 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Ann Patchett Bel Canto
Karen Joy Fowler Sister Noon
Jonathan Franzen The Corrections
Claire Messud The Hunters
Manil Suri The Death of Vishnu

Philip Roth

Honored for : The Human Stain

Nominations 2001 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Philip Roth The Human Stain
Michael Chabon The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Millicent Dillon Harry Gold
Denis Johnson The Name of the World
Mona Simpson Off Keck Road

Ha Jin

Honored for : Waiting: A Novel

Nominations 2000 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Ha Jin Waiting: A Novel
Frederick Busch The Night Inspector: A Novel
Ken Kalfus PU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies: A Novella and Stories
Elizabeth Strout Amy and Isabelle
Lily Tuck Siam: Or, The Woman Who Shot a Man

Michael Cunningham

Honored for : The Hours

Nominations 1999 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Michael Cunningham The Hours
Russell Banks Cloudsplitter: A Novel
Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible
Brian Morton Starting Out in the Evening
Richard Selzer The Doctor Stories

Rafi Zabor

Honored for : The Bear Comes Home

Nominations 1998 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Rafi Zabor The Bear Comes Home
Donald Antrim The Hundred Brothers
Rilla Askew The Mercy Seat
Mary Gaitskill Because They Wanted To
Francisco Goldman The Ordinary Seaman

Gina Berriault

Honored for : Women in Their Beds: New and Selected Stories

Nominations 1997 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Gina Berriault Women in Their Beds: New and Selected Stories
Daniel Akst St. Burl's Obituary
Kathleen Cambor The Book of Mercy
Ron Hansen Atticus
Jamaica Kincaid The Autobiography of my Mother

Richard Ford

Honored for : Independence Day

Nominations 1996 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Richard Ford Independence Day
Madison Smartt Bell All Souls' Rising
William H. Gass The Tunnel
Claire Messud When the World Was Steady
A.J. Verdelle The Good Negress

David Guterson

Honored for : Snow Falling on Cedars

Nominations 1995 »

Nominee Nominated Work
David Guterson Snow Falling on Cedars
Frederick Busch The Children in the Woods: New and Selected Stories
Ursula Hegi Stones from the River
Joyce Carol Oates What I Lived For
Joanna Scott Various Antidotes: Stories

Philip Roth

Honored for : Operation Shylock: A Confession

Nominations 1994 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Philip Roth Operation Shylock: A Confession
Stanley Elkin Van Gogh's Room at Arles: Three Novellas
Dagoberto Gilb The Magic of Blood
Fae Myenne Ng Bone
Kate Wheeler Not Where I Started From

E. Annie Proulx

Honored for : Postcards

Nominations 1993 »

Nominee Nominated Work
E. Annie Proulx Postcards
Robert Olen Butler A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Francisco Goldman The Long Night of White Chickens
Maureen Howard Natural History
Sylvia Watanabe Talking to the Dead

Don DeLillo

Honored for : Mao II

Nominations 1992 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Don DeLillo Mao II
Stephen Dixon Frog: A Novel
Paul Gervais Extraordinary People
Allan Gurganus White People
Bradford Morrow The Almanac Branch

John Edgar Wideman

Honored for : Philadelphia Fire

Nominations 1991 »

Nominee Nominated Work
John Edgar Wideman Philadelphia Fire
Paul Auster The Music of Chance
Joanne Meschery A Gentleman's Guide to the Frontier
Steven Millhauser The Barnum Museum
Joanna Scott Arrogance

E. L. Doctorow

Honored for : Billy Bathgate

Nominations 1990 »

Nominee Nominated Work
E. L. Doctorow Billy Bathgate
Russell Banks Affliction
Molly Gloss The Jump-Off Creek
Josephine Jacobsen On the Island
Lynne Sharon Schwartz Leaving Brooklyn

James Salter

Honored for : Dusk and Other Stories

Nominations 1989 »

Nominee Nominated Work
James Salter Dusk and Other Stories
Mary McGarry Morris Vanished
Thomas Savage Corner of Rife and Pacific
Isaac Bashevis Singer The Death of Methuselah and Other Stories

T. Coraghessan Boyle

Honored for : World's End

Nominations 1988 »

Nominee Nominated Work
T. Coraghessan Boyle World's End
Richard Bausch Spirits and Other Stories
Alice McDermott That Night
Cynthia Ozick The Messiah of Stockholm
Lawrence Thornton Imagining Argentina

Richard Wiley

Honored for : Soldiers in Hiding

Nominations 1987 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Richard Wiley Soldiers in Hiding
Richard Ford The Sportswriter
Charles R. Johnson The Sorcerer\u2019s Apprentice: Tales and Conjurations
Janet Kauffman Collaborators
Maureen Howard Expensive Habits

Peter Taylor

Honored for : The Old Forest and Other Stories

Nominations 1986 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Peter Taylor The Old Forest and Other Stories
William Gaddis Carpenter's Gothic
Larry McMurtry Lonesome Dove
Hugh Nissenson The Tree of Life
Helen Norris The Christmas Wife
Grace Paley Later the Same Day

Tobias Wolff

Honored for : The Barracks Thief

Nominations 1985 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Tobias Wolff The Barracks Thief
Harriet Doerr Stones for Ibarra
Donald Hays The Dixie Association
David Leavitt Family Dancing
James Purdy On Glory's Course

John Edgar Wideman

Honored for : Sent for You Yesterday

Nominations 1984 »

Nominee Nominated Work
John Edgar Wideman Sent for You Yesterday
Ron Hansen The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
William Kennedy Ironweed
Jamaica Kincaid At the Bottom of the River
Bernard Malamud The Stories of Bernard Malamud
Cynthia Ozick The Cannibal Galaxy

Toby Olson

Honored for : Seaview

Nominations 1983 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Toby Olson Seaview
Maureen Howard Grace Abounding
Bobbie Ann Mason Shiloh and Other Stories
George Steiner The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.
Anne Tyler Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
William Wilson Birthplace: Moving into Nearness

David Bradley

Honored for : The Chaneysville Incident

Nominations 1982 »

Nominee Nominated Work
David Bradley The Chaneysville Incident
Donald Barthelme Sixty Stories
Richard Bausch Take Me Back
Mark Helprin Ellis Island and Other Stories
Marilynne Robinson Housekeeping
Robert Stone A Flag for Sunrise

Walter Abish

Honored for : How German Is It

Nominations 1981 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Walter Abish How German Is It
Shirley Hazzard The Transit Of Venus
Walker Percy The Second Coming
Gilbert Sorrentino Aberration of Starlight
John Kennedy Toole A Confederacy of Dunces