Poet Frank Bidart, journalist James Wolcott take PEN Literary Awards
Acclaimed poet Frank Bidart, Tony Award-winning winning playwright David Rabe, and journalist and cultural critic James Wolcott are among the winners of the 2014 , PEN America announced in New York聽Wednesday.
The recognition is awarded each year by the PEN American Center, a branch of the literary and human rights organization PEN International. The awards are as much a celebration of literature as of free speech, for which PEN advocates around the globe.聽
鈥淐elebrating the written word is an essential part of defending it,鈥� said PEN President Peter Godwin in a . 鈥淸A]nd it is through PEN鈥檚 literary awards that we continue to honor some of the most exceptional books and bodies of work that free expression makes possible.鈥�
For the first time, PEN has delayed announcing its two biggest prizes 鈥� the awards for debut fiction and for distinguished living American author 鈥� until the PEN ceremony on聽Sept. 29 in order to bring more attention to the finalists and the organization. Each prize is worth $25,000.
Finalists for the award include Anthony Marra for 鈥淎 Constellation of Vital Phenomena,鈥� Sa茂d Sayrafiezadeh for 鈥淏rief Encounters with the Enemy,鈥� Ian Stansel for 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 Irish,鈥� Shawn Vestal for 鈥淕odforsaken Idaho,鈥� and Hanya Yanagihara for 鈥淭he People in the Trees.鈥�
Among the awards already announced,聽Mr. Wolcott won the PEN/Diamonstein颅-Spielvogel Award for the art of the essay for his collection, 鈥淐ritical Mass: Four Decades of Essays, Reviews, Hand Grenades, and Hurrahs,鈥� which features four decades of the notable critic鈥檚 best works. PEN judges praised Wolcott鈥檚 "panoramic and encyclopedic variety."
Mr. Rabe won the Master American Dramatist award. His best-known works include the 1984 work 鈥淗urlyburly鈥� and 鈥淪ticks and Bones,鈥� which won a Tony in 1972.
Mr. Bidart, whose most recent work, 鈥淢etaphysical Dog,鈥� was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award, was granted the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry.
The PEN/Bellwether Prize for socially engaged fiction, given to an author of a previously unpublished novel that addresses issues of social justice, was awarded to Ron Childress for 鈥淎nd West is West,鈥� which tackles both the recent financial crisis and the war on terror.聽
The prizes 鈥� along with the as-yet-unannounced prizes for debut fiction and distinguished living American author 鈥� will be formally awarded聽Sept. 29聽at a ceremony in the New School in New York.聽
See a full list of the PEN prizes .
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.
