Yale names Windham‑Campbell winners
Yale announced the 2026 Windham‑Campbell Literature Prize winners — eight international writers across fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama — awards explicitly designed to give recipients financial security and freedom to write. (news.yale.edu)
Eight writers just got one of literature’s rarest gifts: time. Yale’s 2026 Windham-Campbell Prizes give each recipient $175,000 with no project requirement attached, and this year’s winners span fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. (news.yale.edu) The fiction winners are Gwendoline Riley of the United Kingdom and Adam Ehrlich Sachs of the United States. The nonfiction winners are Lucy Sante of the United States and Belgium and Kei Miller of Jamaica. (news.yale.edu) The drama winners are Christina Anderson of the United States and S. Shakthidharan of Australia and Sri Lanka. The poetry winners are Joyelle McSweeney of the United States and Karen Solie of Canada. (news.yale.edu) This prize is built differently from most book awards. Writers are nominated confidentially, judges work anonymously, and recipients do not even know they are in the running until they get the call. (news.yale.edu) Michael Kelleher, the prize’s director, told Yale that he personally delivered the news in mid-February. Yale says the award was created to give writers “time, space, and freedom to work,” which is a much broader promise than a medal tied to one title. (news.yale.edu) The money comes from a gift made in 2013 by writer Donald Windham in memory of Sandy Campbell, his partner of 40 years. The prizes are administered by Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and are open to writers working in English anywhere in the world. (news.yale.edu) That “working in English” rule is why the list can include writers from Jamaica, Canada, Sri Lanka, Australia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the United States in the same year. Yale says writers can win at any career stage, for either sustained achievement or exceptional promise. (news.yale.edu) The scale is unusual even by major prize standards. Yale says 115 writers from 24 countries had received the prize before this announcement, which means the 2026 class pushes the total to 123 recipients since the award began. (news.yale.edu) The public part comes later. Yale says the 2026 prizes will be presented in person during the fall literary festival, and the Windham-Campbell site already lists a 2026 festival schedule for September in New Haven. (news.yale.edu) (windhamcampbell.org)
