The 2023 PEN American Literary Awards has released its Long-lists with a $350,000 prize to more than 100 writers and translators in 11 different categories that include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biography, and more. Among the nominees are Egyptian authors Noor Naga & Iman Mersal whose works have been nominated for two different awards.
Naga’s debut novel, ‘If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English’, has been nominated for the Jean Stein Book Award with a cash prize of $75,000. As for Mersal, her poetry collection, ‘The Threshold’, was nominated for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation with a cash prize of $3,000.
In her book “These Are Not Oranges, My Love,” Mersal established herself as a formidable force by exploring how the human heart is sometimes in conflict with its own nature in a very intriguing way.
On the other hand, Naga’s “Washes, Prays,” which is about a young woman’s romantic engagement with a married man and her following crisis of faith, won both the George Ellenbogen Poetry Award and the 2021 Arab American Book Award.
The PEN Awards were first given out in 1963, and since then they have been honoring top authors in a range of literary genres, including drama, poetry, science writing, essays, sports writing, fiction, and biography. Celebrating its 60th anniversary, the PEN Awards will be judged by panels of award-winning writers, editors, translators, and critics who aim to honor promising authors and those who have significantly influenced the literary scene.
On March 2 at The Town Hall in New York City, the Literary Awards Ceremony will announce all the winners in different genres.