# PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize

The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection is awarded by the PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) "to exceptionally talented fiction writers whose debut work — a first novel or collection of short stories ... represent distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise." The winner is selected by a panel of PEN Members made up of three writers or editors. The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize was originally named the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers. The prize awards the debut writer a cash award of US$25,000.
The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize was established in memory of Robert W. Bingham, who died in 1999 at the age of 33, to commemorate his support of young writers, his love of literature, and his contribution to literary fiction.
The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN affiliates in over 145 PEN centres around the world. The PEN American Center awards have been characterized as being among the "major" American literary prizes.

## Award winners

PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize winners and finalists :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 2002 | Carolyn Cooke | The Bostons | Winner |
| 2002 | Matthew Klam | Sam the Cat and Other Stories | Winner |
| 2002 | Manil Suri | The Death of Vishnu | Winner |
| 2004 | Jonathan Safran Foer | Everything Is Illuminated | Winner |
| 2004 | Will Heinrich | The King's Evil | Winner |
| 2004 | Monique Truong | The Book of Salt | Winner |
| 2006 | Christopher Coake | We're in Trouble | Winner |
| 2007 | Janna Levin | A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines | Winner |
| 2008 | Dalia Sofer | The Septembers of Shiraz | Winner |
| 2009 | Donald Ray Pollock | Knockemstiff | Winner |
| 2010 | Paul Harding | Tinkers | Winner |
| 2011 | Susanna Daniel | Stiltsville | Winner |
| 2011 | Danielle Valore Evans | Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self | Winner |
| 2012 | Vanessa Veselka | Zazen | Winner |
| 2013 | Sergio De La Pava | A Naked Singularity | Winner |
| 2014 | Shawn Vestal | Godforsaken Idaho | Winner |
| 2014 | Ian Stansel | Everybody's Irish | Finalist |
| 2015 | Jack Livings | The Dog: Stories | Winner |
| 2016 | Mia Alvar | In the Country: Stories | Winner |
| 2016 | Julie Iromuanya | Mr. and Mrs. Doctor | Finalist |
| 2016 | Angela Flournoy | The Turner House | Finalist |
| 2016 | Jennifer Tseng | Mayumi and the Sea of Happiness | Finalist |
| 2016 | Viet Thanh Nguyen | The Sympathizer | Finalist |
| 2017 | Rion Amilcar Scott | Insurrections: Stories | Winner |
| 2017 | Clare Beams | We Show What We Have Learned | Finalist |
| 2017 | Brit Bennett | The Mothers | Finalist |
| 2017 | Yaa Gyasi | Homegoing | Finalist |
| 2017 | Cote Smith | Hurt People | Finalist |
| 2018 | Jenny Zhang | Sour Heart | Winner |
| 2018 | Hannah Lillith Assadi | Sonora | Finalist |
| 2018 | Venita Blackburn | Black Jesus and Other Superheroes: Stories | Finalist |
| 2018 | Emily Fridlund | History of Wolves | Finalist |
| 2018 | Carmen Maria Machado | Her Body and Other Parties: Stories | Finalist |
| 2019 | Will Mackin | Bring Out the Dog | Winner |
| 2019 | Chaya Bhuvaneswar | White Dancing Elephants | Finalist |
| 2019 | Jamel Brinkley | A Lucky Man | Finalist |
| 2019 | Helen DeWitt | Some Trick | Finalist |
| 2019 | Akil Kumarasamy | Half Gods | Finalist |
| 2020 | Mimi Lok | Last of Her Name | Winner |
| 2021 | Michael X. Wang | Further News of Defeat: Stores | Winner |
| 2021 | Dima Alzayat | Alligator & Other Stories | Finalist |
| 2021 | Miriam Cohen | Adults and Other Children: Stories | Finalist |
| 2021 | Mary South | You Will Never Be Forgotten | Finalist |
| 2021 | Shruti Swamy | A House Is a Body: Stories | Finalist |
| 2022 | Yoon Choi | Skinship | Winner |
| 2022 | Carribean Fragoza | Eat the Mouth That Feeds You | Finalist |
| 2022 | Dantiel W. Moniz | Milk Blood Heat | Finalist |
| 2022 | Clare Sestanovich | Objects of Desire: Stories | Finalist |
| 2022 | Chris Stuck | Give My Love to the Savages: Stories | Finalist |
| 2023 | Morgan Talty | Night of the Living Rez | Winner |
| 2023 | Sindya Bhanoo | Seeking Fortune Elsewhere | Finalist |
| 2023 | Meron Hadero | A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times | Finalist |
| 2023 | Jasmine Sawers | The Anchored World: Flash Fairy Tales and Folklore | Finalist |
| 2023 | Morgan Thomas | Manywhere: Stories | Finalist |
| 2024 | Aaliyah Bilal | Temple Folk | Finalist |
| 2024 | Stacie Shannon Denetsosie | The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories | Finalist |
| 2024 | Kate Doyle | I Meant It Once: Stories | Finalist |
| 2024 | Kenan Orhan | I Am My Country | Finalist |
| 2024 | Gen Del Raye | Boundless Deep, and Other Stories | Longlisted |
| 2024 | Kristen Gentry | Mama Said: Stories | Longlisted |
| 2024 | Mai Nardone | Welcome Me to the Kingdom | Longlisted |
| 2024 | Ada Zhang | The Sorrows of Others | Longlisted |
| 2024 | Cleo Qian | LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S GO | Withdrawn |
| 2024 | Ghassan Zeineddine | Dearborn | Withdrawn |