The event honoring Elaine May, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o will include performances from Jenn Colella, Bobby Conte, and Kyle Taylor Parker.
Seth Meyers hosts the 2022 PEN America Literary Awards at New York City’s Town Hall February 28. As previously announced, the event honors the year’s most resonant works of literature across several genres, including career achievement honors for Elaine May, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
Emmy-winning actress Candice Bergen will present will present May with the honorary PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award. Bergen made her Broadway debut in 1984 in the Mike Nichols-directed production of Hurlyburly. May began her career with Nichols, for whom the award is named, as the comedy duo Nichols and May.
Drury, this year’s winner of the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award, will be honored by directors Sarah Benson (Fairview) and Lileana Blain-Cruz (Marys Seacole). Quincy Tyler Bernstine, who appeared in the world premiere production of Marys Seacole, will perform an excerpt from the work.
Mukoma wa Ngugi—acclaimed writer of works including The Rise of the African Novel: Politics of Language, Identity, and Ownership and Mrs. Shaw, and son of Kenyan author, playwright, and scholar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o—will recognize his father with the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.
In addition to the awards presentations, the evening will include performances from The Ulysses Owens Jr. Band, joined by guest vocalists Jenn Colella, Bobby Conte, and Kyle Taylor Parker, who will pay tribute to Broadway’s return and the late Stephen Sondheim, recipient of the 2017 PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award.
For more information or for tickets to the ceremony, visit PEN.org.
