The Bellwether Prize, officially the PEN / Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, formerly known as the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, is a biennial award given by PEN America and Barbara Kingsolver to a U.S. citizen for a previously unpublished work of fiction that address issues of social justice. The prize was established by Kingsolver and is funded by her. Winning authors receive a 25,000 award and a publishing contract, from which they receive royalties.
Submissions are judged by a panel of authors whose work shows themes of social change. Authors who have served as judges include: Russell Banks, Martin Espada, Terry Karten, Maxine Hong Kingston, Ursula K. Le Guin, Barry Lopez, Toni Morrison, Ruth Ozeki, Grace Paley, and Anna Quindlen.
In May 2011, PEN America (formerly the PEN American Center) announced it would administer the prize, known as the PEN/Bellwether Prize. The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN affiliates in over 145 PEN centres around the world. PEN America awards were characterized in 2005 as among the "major" American literary prizes.
Winners +Bellwether Prize winners Year Author Title Notes2000Kissing the Virgin's Mouth20022004Correcting the Landscape2006Mudbound20082010Running the Rift2012Good Kings Bad Kings2014And West Is West2016The Leavers2019At the Edge of the Haight2021Moonrise Over New Jessup 2023Kingdom of No Tomorrow
See also
Bellwether
Notes
References
External links Bellwether Prize