Windham-Campbell Prizes

Windham-Campbell Prizes The Donald Windham-Sandy M.

Campbell Literature Prizes call attention to literary achievement and provide writers the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns.

06/22/2026

“I didn’t come to poetry until relatively late in my life.” —Karen Solie

It took Windham-Campbell Prize recipient Karen Solie many years before she started reading poems “with any seriousness.” When she did, she became fascinated by the effects poetry was generating for her—emotionally, intellectually, and physically—and grew interested in the puzzle of writing poetry herself.

06/18/2026

“I’ve written five or six novels… They seem to take longer, and the writing doesn’t get easier. But, that’s good. You want the challenge to be commensurate to your abilities.” —Gwendoline Riley

06/17/2026

"Things are always falling through other things... There's this sense of permeability that is very prevalent throughout the work."

Experience the work of Tomas Tranströmer through the eyes of Karen Solie: lithub.com/karen-solie-on-tomas-transtromers-selected-poems/

06/16/2026

Playwright Christina Anderson has a writing routine that has gotten her through almost all of her theater pieces.

Once she has an idea of what her subject matter will be, Christina will “do an incredible amount of research" including reading across genres and even listening to music from that time period.

Then, she’ll get some paper or cardboard and write notes to herself with different quotes or other details she wants to keep in mind.

From there, she’ll fan out these notes, on a table or on the floor, and start mapping out what the story could be.

Finally, Christina will distill these ideas into an opening scene, and try to think about who her characters are and how they might engage with each other.

06/11/2026

Joyelle McSweeney pairs 5 new wave hits with poetry-in-translation for your delectation:

1) Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart" with Dolores Dorantes’ STYLE translated by Jen Hofer “for a whole swarm of avenging angels.”

2) The Smiths’ “This Charming Man" and THE HISTORY OF VIOLETS by Marosa di Giorgio translated by Jeannine Marie Pitas for “a whole garden full of killer flowers.”

3) For Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down Again,” you need to read BAUDELAIRE IN ENGLISH by Sean Bonney “because this is a work of great fidelity, great obsession, and great distress.”

4) Now, for The Cure’s “Why Can’t I Be You?” Joyelle invites you to read Kit Schluter's translation of Bruno Darío’s LANTANA, OR THE INDISSOLUBLE EXHALATION, a great work of impersonation and switching sides.

5) Finally, Joyelle *requires* you to listen to New Order’s “Dreams Never End" on infinite repeat while you read THE LAST BOOKS OF HÉCTOR VIEL TEMPERLEY, which is translated by Stuart Krimko. The result will have you “swimming out of your own consciousness and into the cosmos.”

06/10/2026

recipient Shakthidharan Sivanathan is an award-winning playwright and father to two boys. At home, he writes late at night while his children are sleeping. When he’s traveling, he tries to find quiet places to work.

Recently, while he was in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka, he discovered that the rooftop of his hotel provided just what he was looking for: a place to take a breath, look over the city, and focus on his craft.

06/05/2026

The 7th season of the x
Lit Hub podcast is here!

Join us for a conversation with Lucy Sante on AN ANTHOLOGY OF NEW YORK POETS, edited by Ron Padgett and David Shapiro. The 1970 first edition featured cover art by Joe Brainard (!) and collected work by some of our all-time favorites including Frank O’ Hara, Bernadette Mayer, and Harry Mathews. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts: lithub.com/lucy-sante-on-an-anthology-of-new-york-poets/

06/04/2026

Are you a writer for whom writing doesn’t come naturally?

recipient Adam Ehrlich Sachs believes that pursuing your obsessions will ultimately serve your fiction.

Adam quit atmospheric science, economics, screenwriting, and a PhD program in the history of science. After moving through these various fields of human inquiry, he landed on fiction as a way of weaving them all together. But not just any fiction. For his debut, he first tried writing a conventional novel about fathers and sons, before quitting that, too, and realizing that he had to dice the story into hundreds of microstories on fathers and sons to get at what he was really after.

We recommend the resulting book, INHERITED DISORDERS, for a dark, hilarious take on filial bonds.

05/28/2026

2026 Windham-Campbell Prize recipient Gwendoline Riley reads an excerpt from her latest novel, THE PALM HOUSE. Read along: lithub.com/the-palm-house

05/26/2026

2026 Windham-Campbell Prize recipient and David Geffen School of Drama at Yale alum Christina Anderson reads from the opening scene of her play HOW TO CATCH CREATION.

Griffin: Just because I’m a man…

Tammy: Yes.

Griffin: Means I shouldn’t smile at children?

Tammy: If I had my kid on the train and you smiled at my kid… you just shouldn’t do it.

Griffin: If you have a kid. And if I see the two of you on the train, I won’t smile. Why are you so negative?

Tammy: I’m a realist.

Griffin: The glass is always half empty with you. Hairline cracks that you don’t notice until it’s already filled with drink.

Tammy: I’m a realist. I have a TV. I read the paper, I watch the news. I talk to educated people.

Griffin: You’re a pessimist.

Tammy: I worry about you smiling at kids. It’s not a smart thing to do. People don’t trust men who are nice to kids they don’t know. Creeps and pervs ruined it for good men. You’re a good man. But those parents don’t know that, so when you smile…

Griffin: I get it.

Tammy: Just be careful.

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