Eight writers have been awarded the 2026 Windham-Campbell Prize, amounting to a $175,000 grant each to support their ongoing work and creative independence.
This year’s awards distribute a total of $1.4 million among a diverse global assembly of literary talent,
Administered by Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the global awards provide significant financial security to authors across four categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama.
See the recipients below:
Fiction
Gwendoline Riley (United Kingdom): Acclaimed for her “meticulous and ruthless” prose that dissects contemporary intimacy.
Adam Ehrlich Sachs (United States): Recognised for his philosophical depth and exploration of the absurdity within human knowledge.
Non-fiction
Kei Miller (Jamaica): Celebrated for his lyrical and trenchant essays exploring the body, language and silence.
Lucy Sante (United States): Honoured for her erudite cultural criticism and empathetic memoir writing.
Poetry
Karen Solie (Canada): Praised for her ability to distil complex philosophy into gritty, luminous verse.
Joyelle McSweeney (United States): Noted for her “wildly imaginative” work and exploration of the “necropastoral.”
Drama
Christina Anderson (United States): Commended for her evocative plays that bridge the gap between intimate and political histories.
S. Shakthidharan (Australia): Celebrated for his multigenerational epics that forge connections across Tamil-Sri Lankan and Australian histories.
Michael Kelleher, Director of the Prizes, emphasised that the grants aim to provide writers with the freedom to work without immediate financial pressure. Established in 2013 by Donald Windham and Sandy M. Campbell, the initiative uses an anonymous selection process to focus strictly on literary merit. Since its inception, the programme has awarded more than $20 million to writers worldwide.
