Jacqueline Rose has been awarded the PEN Pinter Prize 2026.
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
We are delighted to announce that writer, academic, and feminist critic Jacqueline Rose has been awarded the PEN Pinter Prize 2026.
The announcement was made yesterday evening at the English PEN Members’ Summer Party, held at the October Gallery, London, where actor Harriet Walter read from Rose’s work.
Jacqueline Rose will receive the award at a ceremony at the British Library on 8 October 2026, where she will deliver an address. Tickets for the event are now available to book at the link below.
Jacqueline Rose: ‘I never imagined I would join such illustrious and courageous company, those who in past years have received this prize, and the PEN movement in its ongoing struggle against oppression and injustice. I am honoured to join their ranks at a time when racial and sexual violence, state torture, and daily violations of international humanitarian law, from Gaza to Ukraine and Sudan, cast their shadow across a shrinking planet. This prize will help me to speak out more boldly, and go some way to meet the self-reproach: Why has horror been given free rein? What more could I have done, and still do, to help create a fairer world?’
The award will be shared with the PEN Pinter Prize Writer of Courage 2026: a writer who is active in defence of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty. The Writer of Courage, selected by Jacqueline Rose, will be announced at the ceremony.
Jacqueline Rose was chosen as the PEN Pinter Prize winner in May 2026 by this year’s judges: Chair of English PEN Ruth Borthwick, playwright Tanika Gupta, and writer and poet Will Harris.
Read more about the announcement, including the judges' thoughts, here.
The PEN Pinter Prize is supported by the generosity of Faber and Ruth Allison.
