Judith Tannenbaum

Poetry, with its ability to distill complex emotions and experiences into evocative language, serves as an impactful medium for both personal expression and community engagement. For some, poetry provides a method of exploring and articulating innermost thoughts and feelings; for others, it allows them to connect to people despite physical boundaries of separation.

Named for the late acclaimed author Madeleine L’Engle and her 10-year written friendship with scholar, writer and former Black Party leader Ahmad Rahman, the PEN America/L’Engle Rahman Prize for Mentorship honors four mentor/mentee pairs in PEN America’s longstanding prison writing mentorship program, which links established writers with those currently incarcerated.

Established in the aftermath of the Attica Prison Riots in the mid-1970s, the PEN Prison Writing Awards recognize the exceptional voices of incarcerated writers in the United States working within the genres of poetry, fiction, essay, memoir, and drama. With the help of the PEN America Prison Writing Committee, prizes of $300, $200, $150, and $75 are awarded for first place, second place, third place and honorable mentions in each genre.