PEN America awards long list includes many Minnesota writers, publishers

Minneapolis writer Sequoia Nagamatsu and University of Minnesota MFA graduate Jonathan Escoffery are in the running for PEN America awards, along with an array of writers from Minnesota publishers.

More than 100 writers are in the running for 11 awards, worth between $3,000 and $75,000 each.

Graywolf Press, the University of Minnesota Press, Coffee House Press and Milkweed Editions all have books on the PEN America longlists. Finalists will be announced in February, and the winners will be announced March 2.

The full list can be found online here.

Here are those with a Minnesota connection:

PEN/Jean Stein Book Award ($75,000): "If I Survive You," by Jonathan Escoffery; "Dr. No," by Percival Everett, published by Minneapolis' Graywolf Press; "If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English," by Noor Naga, Graywolf Press, and "Customs," by Solmaz Sharif, Graywolf Press.

PEN/Open Book Award ($10,000): "Making Love with the Land," by Joshua Whitehead (University of Minnesota Press).

PEN Robert Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection ($25,000): "If I Survive You," Jonathan Escoffery.

PEN Hemingway Award for Debut Novel ($10,000): "How High We Go in the Dark," Sequoia Nagamatsu.

PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection ($5,000): "The Hurting Kind," Ada Limon (Milkweed Editions)

PEN Translation Prize ($3,000) "Jawbone," Mónica Ojeda, Translated from Spanish by Sarah Booker (Coffee House Press)