Announcing the 2026 PEN America Literary Awards Winners
Book award winners were announced live at the PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony on March 31, 2026, at The Town Hall in New York City hosted by Murray Hill.
The 2026 Literary Awards conferred nearly $350,000 to writers and translators. Spanning fiction, poetry, essay, translation, and more.
PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection Winner: Guatemalan Rhapsody, Jared Lemus (Ecco)
An Ensemble of Voices from the Homeland: A Review of Jared Lemus’s Guatemalan Rhapsody
Story Magazine | BY SELA CHÁVEZ
March 6, 2025
Debutiful Podcast: Guatemalan Rhapsody by Jared Lemus the First Great Short Story Collection of 2025
MARCH 5, 2025
Jared Lemus, author of Guatemalan Rhapsody, joined the podcast to discuss how Guatemala inspires him, being a pantser with a belt, what he means by “the fundamental level,” and the difference between writing a short story and a novel…Read More
Jared Lemus: Short Stories Are the Best Bang for Your Buck
Writers Digest | By Robert Lee Brewer
March 4, 2025
In this interview, author Jared Lemus discusses wanting to tell the stories of everyday Guatemalan people in his debut short story collection, Guatemalan Rhapsody. …Read More
A Gripping Short Story Collection About Guatemalan Heritage and Masculinity
Book Riot | By Susie Dumond
March 10, 2025
Jared Lemus’s debut short story collection GUATEMALAN RHAPSODY is full of vivid characters, crackling tension, and sharp wit. …Read More
Writers to Watch: Spring 2025
Publishers Weekly | By Matt Seidel
January 3, 2025
This spring’s buzziest debut fiction has no shortage of drama, whether in biotech startups, Native American reservation politics, psychotherapy sessions, the Scottish theater world, or women’s volleyball. The slate also contains two Hollywood-ready novels about missing persons. …Read More
Most Anticipated: The Great Winter 2025 Preview
The Millions
January 14, 2025
Lemus’s debut story collection paint a composite portrait of the people who call Guatemala home—and those who have left it behind—with a cast of characters that includes a medicine man, a custodian at an underfunded college, wannabe tattoo artists, four orphaned brothers, and many more. …Read More
Review: Jared Lemus’s necessary and extraordinary debut
Pittsburgh Post Gazette | Jeffrey Condran
March 3, 2025
Whether writing about resisting the insipid pull of American culture, about displaced people running from organized crime, or about the often deep connection its people have to the natural world, Jared Lemus’s much-anticipated debut story collection, “Guatemalan Rhapsody,” shows readers the lives of Guatemalans in ways seldom seen before. …Read More
10 Noteworthy Debut Books You Should Read This March
Debutiful | By Adam Vitcavage
March 3, 2025
Debutiful’s Adam Vitcavage recommends noteworthy debut books for readers to discover each month.
…Read More
Writers to Watch: Spring 2025
Publishers Weekly | By Matt Seidel
January 3, 2025
This spring’s buzziest debut fiction has no shortage of drama, whether in biotech startups, Native American reservation politics, psychotherapy sessions, the Scottish theater world, or women’s volleyball. The slate also contains two Hollywood-ready novels about missing persons. …Read More
9 Must-Read Books by Guatemalan Writers
Electric Lit
February 28, 2025
These works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry traverse the Guatemalan highlands to the streets of New York City …Read More
25 Most Anticipated Books of 2025
Latinx in Publishing
January 16, 2025
A vibrant debut story collection—poignant, unflinching, and immersive—masterfully moving between sharp wit and profound tenderness, Guatemalan Rhapsody offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of an ever-changing country, the people who claim it as home, and those who no longer do. …Read More
New Books in March
Literary Hub
January 4, 2025
Jared’s kaleidoscopic debut is a glimpse into Guatemala through stories that hit deep emotional notes. Heavy in some places, buoyant in others, Lemus’ writing is never without tenderness, even in the most gutting moments. The characters throughout leap off the page, challenging our emotions at every turn, while illuminating everyday struggles through a powerful lens. This captivating short story collection will leave you feeling all the feels. It’s not to be missed. …Read More
Music on the Page: An interview with Jared Lemus
Necessary Fiction | By Jess Maxwell
March 4, 2025
Jess Maxwell spoke to Jared Lemus about growing up in poverty, the alienation he felt about being a first-generation child of immigrants, seeking out the musicality of prose, and discovering the complex beauty of Guatemala. …Read More