PEN American Center Announces Literary Awards

By JULIE BOSMAN

The PEN American Center has announced the winners of its annual literary awards, naming Susan Nussbaum, the author of “Good Kings Bad Kings,” the recipient of the $25,000 Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, a new prize given to the author of an unpublished novel. Vanessa Veselka, the author of “Zazen,” was named the winner of the $25,000 Robert W. Bingham Prize. James Gleick won the E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, and $10,000, for “The Information.” Christopher Hitchens, who died in December, was named the winner of the $5,000 Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay for “Arguably,” his 2011 book of essays. Dan Barry, a columnist for The New York Times, won the $5,000 ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing for “Bottom of the 33rd.” Robert K. Massie was the recipient of the Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography, worth $5,000, for “Catherine the Great.” All 18 winners a nd the runners-up will be honored at a ceremony on Oct. 23 in New York City.