2020
Out of Darkness, Shining Light Wins 2020 Chautauqua Prize
Chautauqua Institution is proud to announce Petina Gappah’s Out of Darkness, Shining Light(Scribner) as the 2020 winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
As author of the winning book, Gappah receives $7,500,and will be presented with the Prize — and give a public reading — duringa celebratory event at a date to be determined as part of Chautauqua Institution’s online assembly season this summer.
Gappah’s powerful novel of exploration and adventure in 19th-century Africa, Out of Darkness, Shining Light is a captivating story of those who carried explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone’s body across the continent of Africa, so his remains could be returned home to England. “Rather than repeating the usual legend of the Livingstone expedition, Gappah reinvents the story to reveal the tyranny and complexity of colonial power,” one reader wrote, and the author’s “inspired treatment and graceful prose breathes life into her riveting account.” Another called the work a “Homer-esque, cross-cultural mini-epic; … the odyssey itself is a pleasure in prose.”
Gappah said she was “delighted” to accept the 2020 Chautauqua Prize:
“My primary identity is that of a reader, so it is wonderful to receive an award that is given to books that offer a ‘richly rewarding reading experience,’” Gappah said. “I am grateful that through the power of this award, Livingstone’s companions will now travel to readers who might otherwise not have heard of them. Thank you so much to Chautauqua Institution for this honor, but most of all, thank you for your abiding belief in the power of literature.”
Press Kit:
Full press release | Book Cover | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
The Chautauqua Prize 2020 Finalists
Chautauqua Institution is pleased to announce seven exceptional books as the 2020 finalists for The Chautauqua Prize, now in its ninth year:
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Tehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee Odyssey
by Mikhal Dekel
(W.W. Norton)
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What You Have Heard is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance
by Carolyn Forché
(Penguin Press)
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Out of Darkness, Shining Light
by Petina Gappah
(Scribner)
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Feast Your Eyes
by Myla Goldberg
(Scribner)
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The Parisian
by Isabella Hammad
(Grove Press)
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Breathe: A Letter to My Sons
by Imani Perry
(Beacon Press)
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Bangkok Wakes to Rain
by Pitchaya Sudbanthad
(Riverhead Books)
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2019
All the Names They Used for God Wins 2019 Chautauqua Prize
Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce Anjali Sachdeva’s All the Names They Used for God: Stories (Spiegel & Grau) as the 2019 winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
As author of the winning book, Sachdeva receives $7,500 and all travel and expenses for a summer residency at Chautauqua from Aug. 12 to 16, 2019. A public reading will take place at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, in the Hall of Philosophy on the Institution’s grounds.
Sachdeva said she was “incredibly grateful for all Chautauqua Institution has done to celebrate the arts and their potential to enrich our lives. To me, the Prize represents not only an amazing honor, but key support that will help me to continue writing.”
Chautauqua Institution President Michael E. Hill said awarding the Prize to Sachdeva’s book highlights the role of Chautauqua in fostering and celebrating both established and developing voices in the literary arts.
Press Kit:
Full press release | Book Cover | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
The Chautauqua Prize 2019 Finalists
Chautauqua Institution is pleased to announce seven exceptional books as the 2019 finalists for The Chautauqua Prize, now in its eighth year:
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Little
by Edward Carey
(Riverhead Books)
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The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth
by Ken Krimstein (Bloomsbury)
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Heavy: An American Memoir
by Kiese Laymon
(Scribner)
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The Overstory
by Richard Powers
(W.W. Norton)
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Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore
by Elizabeth Rush
(Milkweed Editions)
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All the Names They Used for God
by Anjali Sachdeva
(Spiegel & Grau)
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The Mercy Seat
by Elizabeth H. Winthrop (Grove Press)
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2018
The Fact of A Body Wins 2018 Chautauqua Prize
Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir (Flatiron Books), by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, as the 2018 winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
As author of the winning book, Marzano-Lesnevich receives $7,500 and all travel and expenses for a summer residency at Chautauqua from Aug. 1 to 6, 2018. A public reading will take place at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3, in the Hall of Philosophy on the Institution's grounds.
Marzano-Lesnevich said she was honored to receive The Chautauqua Prize, and "that the award comes from an institution with such a long history of creating space for rigorous, rewarding interdisciplinary and cross-genre dialogue makes it particularly meaningful at this moment in our national history, with our urgent need for socially engaged art."
"I very much look forward to attending the Institution this summer, and to all the rich conversations that will unfold there," Marzano-Lesnevich said.
Press Kit:
Full press release | Book Cover | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
The Chautauqua Prize 2018 Finalists
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Salt Houses
by Hala Alyan
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
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High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic
by Glenn Frankel (Bloomsbury)
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The Futilitarians: Our Year of Thinking, Drinking, Grieving, and Reading
by Anne Gisleson
(Little, Brown)
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The Wanderers
by Meg Howrey
(G.P. Putnam's Sons)
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The Signal Flame
by Andrew Krivák
(Scribner)
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The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
(Flatiron Books)
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The Worlds We Think We Know
by Dalia Rosenfeld (Milkweed Editions)
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2017
The Fortunes wins 2017 Chautauqua Prize
Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce The Fortunes (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) by Peter Ho Davies as the 2017 winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
As author of the winning book, Davies receives $7,500 and all travel and expenses for himself and his family for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua from July 8 to 15, 2017. A public reading will take place at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, 2017 in the Hall of Philosophy.
Davies said he first came across the term “Chautauqua” as a college student reading Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in a class on the philosophy of science.
“In a rare case of a jacket blurb coming true it really did ‘change my life.’ I was a physics major, at the time, with mostly suppressed literary ambitions but Pirsig's passionate fusion of the literary and scientific, of feeling and thought, was one of the things that inspired me to return to writing,” Davies said. "It means a lot to me all these years later, and shortly after Pirsig's death, to win The Chautauqua Prize. … I'm so honored and heartened by this award, honored to become a part of Chautauqua's long literary tradition, and heartened that a book about the struggles of Chinese immigrants resonates with contemporary readers."
Press Kit:
Full press release | Book Cover | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
The Chautauqua Prize 2017 Finalists
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The General vs. The President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War
by H.W. Brands (Doubleday)
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Blood River Rising: The Thompson-Crimson Feud of the 1920s
by Victoria Pope Hubbell (Iris Press)
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Underground Airlines
by Ben H. Winters (Mulholland Books)
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American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good
by Colin Woodard (Viking)
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The Song Poet:
A Memoir of My Father
by Kao Kalia Yang
(Metropolitan Books)
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Press Kit:
Full press release | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
2016
Off the Radar wins 2016 Chautauqua Prize
Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce Off the Radar: A Father’s Secret, a Mother’s Heroism, and a Son’s Quest (Blue Rider Press) by Cyrus Copeland as the 2016 winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
As author of the winning book, Copeland receives $7,500 and all travel and expenses for himself and his family for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua from Aug. 7 to 13, 2016. He will host a public reading and book signing at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10, in the Hall of Philosophy.
Copeland received news of the Prize while abroad, preparing to embark on the Camino de Santiago which, he said, “makes this the first time a blessing was delivered before a pilgrimage.”
"I'm grateful to the book lovers and tastemakers at Chautauqua,” Copeland said, “and humbled to be in the company of other great authors.”
Press Kit:
Full press release | Book Cover | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
The Chautauqua Prize 2016 Finalists
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It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War
by Lynsey Addario (The Penguin Press)
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King of the Gypsies: Stories
by Lenore Myka (BkMk Press)
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Granada: A Pomegranate in the Hand of God
by Steven Nightingale (Counterpoint Press)
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Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War
by Susan Southard
(Viking)
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No. 4 Imperial Lane
by Jonathan Weisman
(Twelve Books)
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Press Kit:
Full press release | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
2015
Redeployment wins 2015 Chautauqua Prize
Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce Redeployment (The Penguin Press) by Phil Klay as the 2015 winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
As author of the winning book, Klay receives $7,500 and all travel and expenses for himself and his wife for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua. He will host a public reading and a book signing on Saturday, July 25, at the Hall of Philosophy.
While his Week Four residency will be the first time Klay visits Chautauqua, he said he has fond memories of childhood trips to Lakeside Chautauqua, an Ohio community that is part of the Chautauqua Trail.
“I’m thrilled to come to the original Chautauqua,” Klay said. “I’m incredibly honored by this, and looking forward to meeting folks there.”
A July 25 public reading of the Chautauqua Prize winner Redeployment by Phil Klay will be held at 1:30 in the Hall of Philosophy.
Press Kit:
Full press release | Book Cover | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
The Chautauqua Prize 2015 Finalists
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The Map Thief
by Michael Blanding (Gotham/Avery)
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Byrd
by Kim Church (Dzanc Books)
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The Bully of Order
by Brian Hart (HarperCollins)
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Euphoria
by Lily King
(Grove Atlantic/Atlantic Monthly)
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Redeployment
by Phil Klay
(The Penguin Press)
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All Eyes Are Upon Us
by Jason Sokol
(Basic Books)
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The Scatter Here is Too Great
by Bilal Tanweer
(Harper)
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The Witch
by Jean Thompson
(Blue Rider Press)
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Press Kit:
Full press release | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
2014
My Foreign Cities wins 2014 Chautauqua Prize
Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce “My Foreign Cities” (Liveright) by Elizabeth Scarboro as the 2014 winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
As author of the winning book, Scarboro receives $7,500 and all travel and expenses for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua. She will host a public reading and book signing at a date to be determined this summer on the Institution grounds.
“I’m deeply honored to have a small part in Chautauqua’s long, vibrant tradition of education in the arts, and I'm thrilled to get the chance to visit the Chautauqua community,” said Scarboro, who has also written two novels for children and essays for The New York Times and the Bellevue Literary Review. “The prize will give me the chance to begin new work, and will bring recognition to the subject of my book — those who face illness and loss at a young age. I’m so grateful for both.”
Press Kit:
Full press release | My Foreign Cities cover image | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
The Chautauqua Prize 2014 Finalists
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A History of the Present Illness: Stories
Louise Aronson
Bloomsbury
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Sea of Hooks
Lindsay Hill
McPherson & Company
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The Boy Detective:
A New York Childhood
Roger
Rosenblatt
Ecco
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The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency
James Tobin
Simon & Schuster
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Wash
Margaret Wrinkle
Grove Press
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Press Kit:
Full press release | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
2013
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher wins 2013 Chautauqua Prize
Chautauqua Institution is delighted to announce Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) by Timothy Egan as the 2013 winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
As author of the winning book, Egan received $7,500 and all travel and expenses for a brief residency at Chautauqua, a not-for-profit educational and cultural center in southwestern New York state. He hosted a public reading and book signing on Wednesday, July 10, on the Institution grounds.
"Given the history of Chautauqua, and its role as a summer retreat for lovers of history, art, brisk argument and the written word, I couldn't be more thrilled to be a small part of this," said Egan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for The New York Times and the best-selling author of six books. "You've helped to give the subject of my book, the American Indian photographer Edward Curtis, a bit of a renaissance."
Now beginning its third year, The Chautauqua Prize is a national prize that celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts.
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher is a nonfiction account of Edward Curtis' early-20th-century quest to document the lives of 80 American Indian tribes. Chautauqua Prize reviewers described the book as "compelling" and "exhaustive," and noted that Egan, who won the 2006 National Book Award for The Worst Hard Time, "captures in language what Curtis expresses in photography."
Press Kit:
Full press release | Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher cover image | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
The Chautauqua Prize 2013 Finalists
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Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Ben Fountain
Ecco
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The Presidents Club
Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy
Simon & Schuster
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Devil in the Grove
Gilbert King
Harper
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The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller
Ecco
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The Name of Things
John Colman Wood
Ashland Creek Press
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2012
The Sojourn wins 2012 Chautauqua Prize
Andrew Krivak, author of the 2012 Chautauqua Prize-winning The Sojourn, poses with the prize on the Chautauqua Institution grounds during his August 2012 residency. The physical representation of the 2012 prize is an original wood sculpture by Chautauqua County artist Michael Flaxman. Inspired by the Italian Alps, the vertical grain of the wood evokes the mountains of Eastern Europe, the setting of most of the action in The Sojourn. Set into the wood are the logo for The Chautauqua Prize, in pewter, and the book title, author’s name and year. In future years, The Chautauqua Prize in its physical form will always be a mantel- or bookcase-sized piece inspired by the winning book, and created by a local or Chautauqua-based artist. The common element will be the pewter logo.
Chautauqua Institution is pleased to announce The Sojourn (Bellevue Literary Press) by Andrew Krivak as the first-ever winner of The Chautauqua Prize.
The Chautauqua Prize is a new national prize that celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts.
"I feel honored to be part of this new tradition at Chautauqua Institution, and to be recognized by a place with such a long-standing commitment to art and literature in America," Krivak said.
As author of the winning book, Krivak received $7,500 and all travel and expenses for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua, a not-for-profit educational and cultural center in southwestern New York state.
Press Kit: Full press release | The Sojourn cover image | The Chautauqua Prize logo (pdf)
The Chautauqua Prize 2012 Shortlist
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Caleb's Crossing
Geraldine Brooks
Viking
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In The Garden
of Beasts
Erik Larson
Crown
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Why Read
Moby-Dick?
Nathaniel Philbrick
Viking
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All Cry Chaos
Leonard Rosen
The Permanent Press
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We Are Taking Only What We Need
Stephanie
Powell Watts
BkMk Press
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