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PEN/Faulkner

2012 / 2013

The New York Times

Arts Beat BlogMarch 26, 2012

Julie Otsuka Wins PEN/Faulkner Award

By JULIE BOSMAN

2:49 p.m. | Updated Julie Otsuka is the winner of the 2012 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her novel “The Buddha in the Attic” (Alfred A. Knopf), the directors of the award announced on Monday. The book, which traces the lives of six Japanese mail-order brides who sail to San Francisco in the early 20th century, was chosen from more than 350 novels and short-story collections, all by American authors and all published in 2011.

Marita Golden, one of three judges, said in a statement that in “The Buddha in the Attic,” Ms. Otsuka “creates a voice that is hypnotic and irresistible, and renders her story with the power of the most ancient, timeless myths, the legends that crowd our dreams, and the truths we cannot bear.” She went on to say, “Her skill is awesome and utterly inspiring.”

Ms. Otsuka, a native of California, will receive $15,000. An awards ceremony is scheduled for May 5 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington.

JULIE OTSUKA RECIEVES THE 32ND ANNUAL PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION

2012 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winner, Julie Otsuka, and her award-winning novel The Buddha in the Attic.

IN THE NEWS:

As one of the preeminent �ction awards in given in the United States, the yearly announcement of the winner and �nalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction makes national headlines. Above, screenshots of orignal and synicated content from CBS News, the Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Hu�ng-ton Post, the Houston Chronicle’s Bookish Blog, and more.

THE 2012 PEN/FAULKNER GALA:

Resilience. It’s a good word for Washington on this particular day and this particular week, and for a few reasons—all of which were referenced Monday night at the 24th annual PEN/Faulkner awards dinner, where “resilience” was the theme. Its de�nition is “to spring back into shape after bending.” During the cocktail hour, some guests expressed that they thought the theme was apt on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary. At the less somber end of the spectrum, some thought it described the Redskins’ win against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. As the late summer/early fall party season begins, it could also be applied to Washington social life. In the past few years the event business has faced quite a few challenges, most of them �nancial, and yet people keep showing up—maybe not as many as before, but enough keep paying the average $500 to $1,000 for a ticket to back causes that need all the help they can muster.

PEN/Faulkner is a good example. The money raised at the dinner certainly helps to underwrite a glamorous and intellectual evening for the guests, and to give awards of $15,000 and $5,000 to winning authors, but it also brings acclaimed writers into the DC public schools. The writers who spoke at the dinner last night spent the earlier part of the day with public high school students. At other times, PEN/Faulkner organiz-es book groups for teen parents at various DC schools, including Anacostia, Ballou, Cardozo, and Dunbar. Some authors also visit young people who are incar-cerated in city facilities.

Still, the event is in need of more robust support. Last night there were 194 people in attendance, compared with 254 in 2008, at the beginning of the Great Reces-sion. The attendees were rewarded with a many-facet-ed analysis of the meaning of resilience, by ten authors and one host, who spoke from the evocative Elizabe-than stage of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

The host, Calvin Trillin, said that “when it is applied to human beings, rather than metal alloys, resil-ience means to recover from misfortune.” Ben Foun-tain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, said the routine tests of resilience are marriage, jobs, and parenthood, but he cited 9/11 and the Haitian earthquake as transcending routine. “The vast majority of us can go much further than we thought possible,” he said. “When the landscape of your life is destroyed, what you do is wake up the next day and just keep going.” Vaddey Ratner certainly knows what it means to keep going. She is a Cambodian refugee who faced peril at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, and who came to the US unable to speak English but who graduated summa cum laude from Cornell. “When I think of resilience I think of all those who made it possible for me to survive,” said Ratner, who is the author of In The Shadow of The Banyan. “For writers, words are the means by which we endure.”

Elissa Schappell, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and the author of Blueprints for Building Better Girls, called her �ctional story a “palate cleanser”

The WashingtonianSeptember 11,2012

By Carol Ross Joynt

and told a tale of teenage pregnancy and abortion with an unexpected ending. Poet Major Jackson put his theory of resilience into a prose poem that ended with a haiku, Susan Richards Shreve, an author and English professor at George Mason University, told of a childhood accident and the struggle to regain self-assurance. Tijuana native Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil’s Highway, recalled a cocky Mexican homeless boy named Felix. He described him as born “standing up and talking back,” and endlessly inventive about making his sorry life seem positive. “This guy is my hero,” he said. “No matter how low you are kicked around, there’s this little nugget of self.”

Another among the featured writers was Louis Bayard, who teaches creative writing at George Washington University and who grew up in the Washington suburbs. His talk was humorous, recall-ing his father’s passion for detailing his daily com-mute from Spring�eld, Virginia, to Chevy Chase, Maryland, to his job at the B.F. Saul Company. Also amusing, if prescient, was Hilma Wolitzer, author of An Available Man. She lamented that “books seem to be on the way out.” She said she’s “not a Luddite” and uses all the latest technology, but she draws the line at electronic publishing. “It’s comforting to know I cannot be electrocuted reading a regular book in the bathtub.”

After the readings the guests sat down to a candlelit dinner in the Folger Shakespeare Library reading room, with its two stories of walls lined with books. The menu, from Design Cuisine, included pome-granate chicken over wilted arugula and a dessert of banana sticky pudding. The talk at our table was about resilience, again with references to 9/11 and the Redskins, but also a lot about one particular book—not a novel, but rather No Easy Day, the account by Navy SEAL Mark Owen of the killing of Osama bin Laden, who proved, after all, to be not all that resilient.

Resilience. It’s a good word for Washington on this particular day and this particular week, and for a few reasons—all of which were referenced Monday night at the 24th annual PEN/Faulkner awards dinner, where “resilience” was the theme. Its de�nition is “to spring back into shape after bending.” During the cocktail hour, some guests expressed that they thought the theme was apt on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary. At the less somber end of the spectrum, some thought it described the Redskins’ win against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. As the late summer/early fall party season begins, it could also be applied to Washington social life. In the past few years the event business has faced quite a few challenges, most of them �nancial, and yet people keep showing up—maybe not as many as before, but enough keep paying the average $500 to $1,000 for a ticket to back causes that need all the help they can muster.

PEN/Faulkner is a good example. The money raised at the dinner certainly helps to underwrite a glamorous and intellectual evening for the guests, and to give awards of $15,000 and $5,000 to winning authors, but it also brings acclaimed writers into the DC public schools. The writers who spoke at the dinner last night spent the earlier part of the day with public high school students. At other times, PEN/Faulkner organiz-es book groups for teen parents at various DC schools, including Anacostia, Ballou, Cardozo, and Dunbar. Some authors also visit young people who are incar-cerated in city facilities.

Still, the event is in need of more robust support. Last night there were 194 people in attendance, compared with 254 in 2008, at the beginning of the Great Reces-sion. The attendees were rewarded with a many-facet-ed analysis of the meaning of resilience, by ten authors and one host, who spoke from the evocative Elizabe-than stage of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

The host, Calvin Trillin, said that “when it is applied to human beings, rather than metal alloys, resil-ience means to recover from misfortune.” Ben Foun-tain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, said the routine tests of resilience are marriage, jobs, and parenthood, but he cited 9/11 and the Haitian earthquake as transcending routine. “The vast majority of us can go much further than we thought possible,” he said. “When the landscape of your life is destroyed, what you do is wake up the next day and just keep going.” Vaddey Ratner certainly knows what it means to keep going. She is a Cambodian refugee who faced peril at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, and who came to the US unable to speak English but who graduated summa cum laude from Cornell. “When I think of resilience I think of all those who made it possible for me to survive,” said Ratner, who is the author of In The Shadow of The Banyan. “For writers, words are the means by which we endure.”

Elissa Schappell, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and the author of Blueprints for Building Better Girls, called her �ctional story a “palate cleanser”

and told a tale of teenage pregnancy and abortion with an unexpected ending. Poet Major Jackson put his theory of resilience into a prose poem that ended with a haiku, Susan Richards Shreve, an author and English professor at George Mason University, told of a childhood accident and the struggle to regain self-assurance. Tijuana native Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil’s Highway, recalled a cocky Mexican homeless boy named Felix. He described him as born “standing up and talking back,” and endlessly inventive about making his sorry life seem positive. “This guy is my hero,” he said. “No matter how low you are kicked around, there’s this little nugget of self.”

Another among the featured writers was Louis Bayard, who teaches creative writing at George Washington University and who grew up in the Washington suburbs. His talk was humorous, recall-ing his father’s passion for detailing his daily com-mute from Spring�eld, Virginia, to Chevy Chase,

Maryland, to his job at the B.F. Saul Company. Also amusing, if prescient, was Hilma Wolitzer, author of An Available Man. She lamented that “books seem to be on the way out.” She said she’s “not a Luddite” and uses all the latest technology, but she draws the line at electronic publishing. “It’s comforting to know I cannot be electrocuted reading a regular book in the bathtub.”

After the readings the guests sat down to a candlelit dinner in the Folger Shakespeare Library reading room, with its two stories of walls lined with books. The menu, from Design Cuisine, included pomegran-ate chicken over wilted arugula and a dessert of banana sticky pudding. The talk at our table was about resilience, again with references to 9/11 and the Redskins, but also a lot about one particular book—not a novel, but rather No Easy Day, the account by Navy SEAL Mark Owen of the killing of Osama bin Laden, who proved, after all, to be not all that resilient.

THE GALA, IN PICTURES

Clockwise from upper left: Bene�t Committee Co-Chair, Senator Patrick Leahy and Gala Emcee Calvin Trillin; the Reading Room of the Folger Shakespeare Library as dining room; PEN/Faulkner board member Mary Haft and son Michael, a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps; PEN/Faulkner board members Frazier O'Leary, George Pelecanos, and Mary Haft greet Gala guests; PEN/Faulkner board member Lou Stovall and author Vaddey Ratner.

Previous Page: 2012 Gala Authors, clockwise from upper-left: Chris Bohjalian, Elissa Shappell, Ben Fountain, Major Jackson, Louis Bayard, Calvin Trillin (emcee), Louis Alberto Urrea, Carol Anshaw, Vaddey Ratner, Susan Richards Shreve, and Hilma Wolitzer.

U.S NEWS & WORLD REPORTBy: Jamie Stiehm

Februrary 22, 2011

The author of The Corrections and Freedom went to jail in Washington. He left impressed with the "seriousness" level of conversation, compared to meeting with young people on the other side of the tracks. I felt curious to see the novelist Jonathan Franzen meet with a circle of youths, 16 and 17 years old, in their unit in the city jail. They are housed in the juvenile annex in Southeast Washington, a world away from Northwest. Their faces looked older than their age as they studied the celebrated writer who, they heard, made the cover of Time. Franzen came to visit with them for an hour, Friday at noon. The youths wore orange jump suits and white tennis shoes. They were being tried as adults. Franzen wore jeans, looking Manhattan cool with tousled strands of silvery brown hair falling over his glasses. He looked younger than his age, 51. He came to discuss his art and craft with 25 youths in jail for a PEN/-Faulkner Foundation event. The author didn't spend a moment dwelling on their circumstances, but cut right to the fear involved in creating original work. "There's nothing scarier than a blank piece of paper," he said. If stuck, he added, "Try writing a letter to someone, or keep a journal. Not to be afraid of the page, that's the main thing." Then the circle of 25 or 30 teenage boys clapped. As members of the Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop within the jail walls, they were expanding their literary horizons and connected instantly with what Franzen was talking about. Working things out with words--anger, pain, sadness, remorse, whatever it is--can turn into poetry or stories, which Free Minds publishes for the juvenile community in the city jail, so peers can read each other's writing. Tara Libert, co-founder and executive director, says weekly gatherings at the jail help nurture "humanity, creativity and hope." Franzen's large-canvas work is somewhat auto-biographical social realism, drawing characters in his family and a portrait of St. Louis, his hometown; the

angst of life on a liberal arts college campus such as Swarthmore; and his adult experiences and relation-ships in Philadelphia and New York. He spent years com-posing his �ction in relative oblivion, he told the circle, long before he met Oprah Winfrey ("we made up") or Barack Obama ("easy to talk to.") His gorgeous essays, which range from bird watching to Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip, often see and frame the familiar anew. "I've been lucky in so many ways," Franzen said. I knew just what he meant because, so was I. Many miles ago, I had seen his Jon's talent dance on a page when he was a senior at Swarthmore, in a writing workshop. I had not seen him since. His statement was so undeniably true that, strictly speaking, it didn't need to be said. And yet it did, to speak across the chasm of chances. Some of the youths are charged with violent crimes. If convicted, they face life incarcerated for an average of six years. There were a few youths in "lockdown" in the unit as Franzen spoke, con�ned alone to their cells for long stretches. Sharing a cell is much easier on the human spirit. In a �ash of mordant wit, Franzen said, "What I've chosen to do with my life involves solitary con�nement. You spend too much time alone, you go crazy," Franzen said. "The fact is, it makes me a little crazy too." But there's no other way; writing prose or poetry takes introspection--but more, it takes a lot of time, no matter what. Said Franzen to the aspiring youths congregated around him: "For better or worse, one thing you've got is the time."

JONATHAN FRANZEN GOES TO JAIL (FOR A BOOK TALK)

By: Emma BrownPhotos: Astrid Riecken

October 29, 2012

Best-selling crime novelist George Pelecanos paid a visit one recent morning to Cardozo Senior High School in Northwest Washing-ton, where Advanced Place-ment English students had read his 2011 novel, “The Cut.” Pelecanos was there to answer their questions, talk about the writing life, maybe leave behind a bit of wisdom or inspiration. But �rst, he read a passage from the book in which the main character visits an English class at Cardo-zo Senior High School — and tries to impart a bit of wisdom or inspiration. “This,” Pelecanos said, “is what fancy people call ‘meta.’ ” A native Washingtonian whose 18 novels are salted with the city’s neighborhoods and characters, Pelecanos has been visiting Cardozo for years at the invitation of veteran teacher Frazier O’Leary, who also has hosted such luminaries as Toni Morrison, David Foster Wallace and ZZ Packer. The PEN/Faulkner Foundation, which is perhaps best known for the annual award it presents to �ction writers, sponsors such visits to introduce students to people who earn a living with words, ideas and stories. The foundation brings authors to Washing-

ton, connects them with teachers and buys enough books to provide every student in a class with a copy. This year, approximately 40 authors will take part in 125 events at D.C. schools, and for the �rst time, some will visit schools in Baltimore as part of the program. The foundation is in the midst of raising money to continue expanding to other regional cities — Rich-

mond, Philadelphia and Pitts-burgh. “It’s something that students never forget,” said O’Leary, president of the foundation’s board and a champion of expanding the Writers in Schools program. “They get a chance to meet a real live author, which to me is awe-some. All the authors I was supposed to study in high school had been dead for 300 years.” Pelecanos is not only alive, he’s still producing books. And he also helped write and create two acclaimed HBO series, “The Wire” and “Treme,” a

fact that gives him extra star power in a room full of teenagers. But at Cardozo, most of the talk and most of the questions were not about television. They were about “The Cut,” which follows an Iraq War veteran who comes home to Washington to work as a private investigator, and about the choices that Pelecanos made as he wrote. Students had lots to ask: Why is the main char-acter’s family made up of multiracial adopted children? (Pelecanos, whose own children are adopt-ed and multiracial, was interested in showing that

GEORGE PELECANOS VISITS CARDOZO WITH WinS

A class meets its English subject, and a writer meets his literary subjects: Best-selling crime novelist George Pelecanos paid a visit one recent morning to Cardozo Senior High School in North-west Washington. The visit is just one of 125 such visits planned by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation in and around Washington, D.C. this school year.

families built that way are normal and loving). Why didn’t Pelecanos specify some main characters’ races? (Because this is a young person’s book, and young people don’t care as much about skin color as older generations). They wanted to know what inspired the book (a short story Pelecanos wrote that gave rise to the main character and conversations with veterans at what is now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center) and whether Pelecanos ever faces writer’s block when he sits down in front of a blank page (he makes himself write every day and tries to produce at least �ve pages, even if they aren’t any good). One student, 16-year-old senior Kevaughna Abraham, didn’t have a question. She just wanted to thank Pelecanos for representing the city she knows. The corner stores are exactly as he describes in the book, Kevaughna said. The streets and the neighbor-hoods — not to mention the high school — are places she recognizes. “I was like, man, I know exactly what he’s talking about,” said Kevaughna, who aspires to be a screenwriter. “I really don’t read books that show the real D.C. — but when I read this, I was excited. It makes me proud.” Pelecanos said he was grateful to know that the city he created on the page had passed muster. “It’s important for me to get it right, and it’s a real fear that I won’t get it right,” he said. “I feel like I’m leaving a record of the city. I mean, I want to see books all over the world, but I’m writing for you all. I want these books to be meaningful to Washingtonians.” Another student asked about his favorite author. Pelecanos didn’t hesitate: John Steinbeck. But his favorite Washington writer? Edward P. Jones, who grew up in poverty not far from the Capitol and won the Pulitzer Prize for his antebellum novel “The Known World.” “Jones is a genius,” he said. Some of the students nodded. They’ve heard of Jones. They’re going to read his short stories. And he’s coming to visit next month.

adopted and multiracial, was interested in showing that families built that way are normal and loving). Why didn’t Pelecanos specify some main characters’ races? (Because this is a young person’s book, and young people don’t care as much about skin color as older generations). They wanted to know what inspired the book (a short story Pelecanos wrote that gave rise to the main character and conversations with veterans at what is now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center) and whether Pelecanos ever faces writer’s block when he sits down in front of a blank page (he makes himself write every day and tries to produce at least �ve pages, even if they aren’t any good). One student, 16-year-old senior Kevaughna Abraham, didn’t have a ques-tion. She just wanted to thank Pelecanos for representing the city she knows. The corner stores are exactly as he describes in the book, Kevaughna said. The streets and the neighborhoods — not to mention the high school — are places she recognizes. “I was like, man, I know exactly what he’s talking about,” said Kevaughna, who aspires to be a screenwriter. “I really don’t read books that show the

real D.C. — but when I read this, I was excited. It makes me proud.” Pelecanos said he was grateful to know that the city he created on the page had passed muster.

“It’s important for me to get it right, and it’s a real fear that I won’t get it right,” he said. “I feel like I’m leaving a record of the city. I mean, I want to see books all over the world, but I’m writing for you all. I want these books to be meaningful to Washingtonians.” Another student asked about his favorite author. Pelecanos didn’t hesitate: John Steinbeck. But his favorite Washing-ton writer? Edward P. Jones, who grew up in poverty not far from the Capitol and won the Pulitzer Prize for his ante-bellum novel “The Known World.” “Jones is a genius,” he said. Some of the students nodded. They’ve heard of Jones. They’re going to read his short stories. And he’s coming to visit next month.

Author George Pelecanos discusses writing, literature, his latest novel “The Cut,” and signs books for students at Cardozo High School. In addition to the opportunity to discuss literature with a local author, each student recieved a copy of the book, courtesy of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.

For more inforamtion about the Writers in Schools program can be found online at:

http://www.penfaulkner.org/writers-in-schools/

FIND US ONLINE:

THE PEN/FAULKNER PODCAST features recordings from PEN/Faulkner events held at the Folger Shakespeare Library as well as occational audio from our archives. All readings are produced by PEN/Faulkner sta� and are avail-able through iTunes as well as on the PEN/Faulkner Foundation’s website.

EPISODE INDEX:EPISODE 1: 2011 PEN/Faulkner Gala - “The Writing on the Wall” EPISODE 2: R. Dwayne Betts & Ta-Nehisi CoatesEPISODE 3: Chris Adrian & Emma DonoghueEPISODE 4: Myla Goldberg, Allegra Goodman, & Monique TruongEPISODE 5: The 2011 PEN/Malamud ReadingEPISODE 6: Dagoberto Gilb & Benjamin PercyEPISODE 7: 2012 PEN/Faulkner Award for FictionEPISODE 8: 2012 PEN/Faulkner Gala - “Resilience”EPISODE 9: Je�rey Eugenides

THE WRITERS IN SCHOOLS BLOG features news and information from the PEN/Faulkner Foundation’s groundbreaking Writers in Schools (WinS) program, including information about recent school visits, participating writers and instructors, and information about the program’s expansion. Additional content features personal narratives from WinS participants, and this fall, PEN/Faulkner will launch a series of Q&As with current and former WinS instructors, authors, students, and administrators.

AWARDS: More information about the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the PEN/Malamud Award, includ-ing past winners, �nalists, and judges, can be found on the PEN/Faulkner Foundation’s website.

PEN/Faulkner Award: PEN/Malamud Award:http://www.penfaulkner.org/award-for-�ction/ http://www.penfaulkner.org/pen-malamud-award/

www.penfaulkner.org