The PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award is awarded by the PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) for writing that exemplifies literary excellence on the subject of physical and biological sciences.PEN American Center Literary Awards The award includes a cash prize of $10,000.
The award was founded by scientist and author Dr. Edward O. Wilson, activist and actor Harrison Ford, and the E. O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. The award was inaugurated in 2011.
Examples of published works that exemplify the quality of writing the award is designed to acknowledge include Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) and James Watson's The Double Helix (1969), which contribute 'to the public’s understanding of scientific principles at work in the world today.'
The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN affiliates in over 145 PEN centers around the world. The PEN American Center awards have been characterized as being among the "major" American literary prizes.
Award winners +PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award winners and runners-upYearAuthorTitleResultRef.2011 Winner Becoming AnimalRunner-up2012 Winner Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of ThemRunner-up2013 Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your BehaviorWinner Runner-up2014 High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and SocietyWinner2015 War of the Whales: A True StoryWinner2016 Thunder & Lightning: Weather Past, Present, FutureWinnerRain: A Natural and Cultural HistoryShortlistShortlistShortlist and Jeff KanipeIsland on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of a Forgotten Volcano That Changed the World Shortlist2017 Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family SecretsWinnerCoyote America: A Natural and Supernatural HistoryShortlistHow to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of a Private Spaceflight ShortlistLab GirlShortlistShortlist2018 The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian MedicineWinnerAmerican Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the WorldShortlistGrowing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to LifeShortlistNo One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in AmericaShortlistBehave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and WorstShortlist2019 Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They MatterWinnerShortlistShortlistBlue Dreams: The Science and the Story of the Drugs that Changed Our MindsShortlistShe Has Her Mother’s LaughShortlist2020 Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about OurselvesWinnerConscience: The Origins of Moral IntuitionShortlistOn the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary EdenShortlistShortlistLosing Earth: A Recent HistoryShortlist2021 Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest OwlWinnerShortlistFathoms: The World in the WhaleShortlistShortlistShortlist2022 Fox & I: An Uncommon FriendshipWinnerShortlistShortlistBelievers: Making a Life at the End of the WorldShortlistLife’s Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be AliveShortlist2023Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific JourneyWinnerVagina Obscura: An Anatomical VoyageShortlistSounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution's Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory ExtinctionShortlistShortlist2024California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing CoastlineWinnerThe Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean DepthsShortlistCrossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our PlanetShortlistWomb: The Inside Story of How It All BeganShortlistIn the Blood: How Two Outsiders Solved a Centuries-Old Medical Mystery and Took on the US ArmyShortlist2025Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All LifeWinnerThe Burning Earth: A HistoryShortlistPlaying with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our WorldShortlistAll in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters TodayShortlistThe Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with Our Wild NeighborsShortlist
References
External links PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award