Each year, we present three awards to outstanding writers – the PEN Pinter Prize, the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize, and the PEN Ackerley Prize. Funded by and in honour of former PEN members and significant literary figures, these prizes recognise excellence in historical nonfiction, literary autobiography, and a courageous and unflinching approach to the written word.
Previous winners include Lemn Sissay, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sir Salman Rushdie, Raif Badawi, Margaret Atwood, and Roberto Saviano.
PEN Pinter Prize
The PEN Pinter Prize acknowledges writers who, in the words of Harold Pinter, show a ‘fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies’.
PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize
The Hessell-Tiltman prize celebrates the best non-fiction on any historical subject or period.
PEN Ackerley Prize
The PEN Ackerley Prize is awarded in J R Ackerley’s memory for a literary autobiography of excellence.
Image credit: The Estate of J.R. Ackerley 2020
