William Saroyan International Prize for Writing

The William Saroyan International Prize for Writing is a biennial literary award for fiction and nonfiction in the spirit of William Saroyan by emerging writers. It was established by Stanford University Libraries and the William Saroyan Foundation to "encourage new or emerging writers rather than recognize established literary figures;"^[1] the prize being $12,500.

The Saroyan Prize was first awarded in 2003 for "newly published works of fiction including novels, short stories, dramas or memoirs."^[1] Starting with the second round of awards in 2005, separate awards have been given for fiction and nonfiction. With the exception of a three year gap between the second and third rounds of awards, the prize has been awarded every two years since it was established.

Recipients

General (2003)

The first year the award was presented, winners and finalists not separated into genres.

Award winners and finalists^[2]
Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
2003	Jonathan Safran Foer	Everything is Illuminated	Winner	^[3]
	Hari Kunzru	The Impressionist	Finalist	^[4]
	Adam Rapp	Nocturne	Finalist	^[5]

Fiction (2005-present)

Fiction award winners, finalists, and shortlists^[2]
Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
2005	George Hagen	The Laments	Winner	^[6]
	Edward Docx	The Calligrapher	Finalist	^[6]
	Aris Janigian	Bloodvine	Finalist	^[6]
	Julie Orringer	How to Breathe Underwater	Finalist	^[6]
	Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman	The King of California	Winner	^[6]
	Tom Bissell	Chasing the Sea	Finalist	^[6]
	David Laskin	The Children's Blizzard	Finalist	^[6]
2008	Nicole Krauss	The History of Love	Winner	^[7]
	Pamela Erens	The Understory	Finalist	^[7]
	Richard Lange	Dead Boys	Finalist	^[7]
2010	Rivka Galchen	Atmospheric Disturbances	Winner	^[8]
	Elizabeth Kelly	apologize, apologize!	Finalist	^[8]
	Peter Neofotis	Concord, Virginia: A Southern Town in Eleven Stories	Finalist	^[8]
2012	Daniel Orozco	Orientation and Other Stories	Winner	^[9]
	Ben Lerner	Leaving the Atocha Station	Finalist	^[9]
	Miroslav Penkov	East of the West: A Country in Stories	Finalist	^[9]
2014	Kiese Laymon	Long Division	Winner	^[10]
	Eric Lundgren	The Facades	Finalist	^[10]
	Alexander Maksik	A Marker to Measure Drift	Finalist	^[10]
2016	T. Geronimo Johnson	Welcome to Braggsville	Winner	^[11]^[12]
	Amina Gautier	Now We Will Be Happy	Finalist	^[11]
	John Keene	Counternarratives	Finalist	^[11]
2018	Hernan Diaz	In the Distance	Winner	^[13]^[14]
	Scott Shibuya Brown	The Traders	Finalist	^[13]
	Shanthi Sekaran	Lucky Boy	Finalist	^[13]
2020	Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah	Friday Black	Winner	^[15]
	Ayesha Harruna Attah	The Hundred Wells of Salaga	Finalist	^[15]
	Helen DeWitt	Some Trick	Finalist	^[15]
2022	Claire Oshetsky	Chouette	Winner	^[16]^[17]
	Siamak Vossoughi	A Sense of the Whole	Finalist	^[16]
	Danielle Evans	The Office of Historical Corrections	Finalist	^[16]

Non-fiction (2005-present)

Non-fiction award winners, finalists, and shortlists^[2]
Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
2005	Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman	The King of California	Winner	^[6]
	Tom Bissell	Chasing the Sea	Finalist	^[6]
	David Laskin	The Children's Blizzard	Finalist	^[6]
2008	Kiyo Sato	Dandelion Through the Crack: The Sato Family Quest for the American Dream	Winner	^[7]
	Adam David Miller	Ticket to Exile	Finalist	^[7]
	John Moir	Return of the Condor: The Race to Save Our Largest Bird from Extinction	Finalist	^[7]
2010	Linda Himelstein	The King of Vodka: The Story of Pyotr Sminov and the Upheaval of an Empire	Winner	^[8]
	Brian Brett	Trauma Farm	Finalist	^[8]
	Maryalice Huggins	Aesop's Mirror	Finalist	^[8]
2012	Elisabeth Tova Bailey	The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating	Winner	^[9]
	Arion Golmakani	Solacers	Finalist	^[9]
	John Jeremiah Sullivan	Pulphead	Finalist	^[9]
2014	Margalit Fox	The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code	Winner	^[10]
2014	Daniel James Brown	The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics	Finalist	^[10]
2016	Lori Jakiela	Belief is its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe	Winner	^[11]
	Elena Gorokhova	Russian Tattoo	Finalist	^[11]
	Susan Southard	Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War	Finalist	^[11]
2018	Robert Moor	On Trails: an Exploration	Winner	^[13]
	Angela Palm	Riverine: a Memoir from Anywhere but Here	Finalist	^[13]
	Edward Wilson-Lee	Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures with the Ever-living Poet	Finalist	^[13]
2020	Jennifer Croft	Homesick: A Memoir	Winner	^[15]
	Alexander Chee	How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays	Finalist	^[15]
	Carmen Maria Machado	In the Dream House	Finalist	^[15]
2022	Wayétu Moore	The Dragons, the Giant, the Women	Winner	^[16]^[17]
2022	Shawna Kay	Kin	Finalist	^[16]