Blackman awarded PEN Pinter Prize in first for a children’s and YA writer 

Malorie Blackman has been awarded the 2022 PEN Pinter Prize, becoming the first children’s and YA author to win the award since it was first given out in 2009. 

The prize is awarded annually to a writer resident in the UK writer who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel speech, casts an “unflinching, unswerving” gaze on the world, and shows a “fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies”. 

Blackman will receive the award in a ceremony co-hosted by the British Library on 10th October, where she will deliver an address. 

The prize will be shared with an International Writer of Courage – a writer who is active in defence of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty – to be chosen by Blackman from a shortlist of international cases supported by English PEN. She will announce the winner on the night. 

Blackman was chosen by this year’s judging panel featuring chair of English PEN Ruth Borthwick, publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster Margaret Busby and writer, editor and translator Daniel Hahn.

Borthwick said: “This is the first time the PEN Pinter Prize has been awarded to a writer for young people so you’d expect them to be exceptional. Malorie Blackman has transformed the world of writing for young adults. Her work never talks down, and her readers have responded by taking her to their hearts. Malorie has created dynamic imaginary worlds in which her protagonists are living with and challenging issues of injustice in a way that is totally engaging as she is above all a wonderful storyteller.”

Busby agreed that Blackman’s “commitment to the fact that Young Adult reading, as well as exciting the imagination, can shape a lifelong ethical engagement with issues concerning social and political justice — such as racism and cultural difference” made her a worthy winner. Hahn added: “Encouraging young people to engage with political and social issues is vital work, and no one has done it better than Malorie Blackman."

Blackman, who has written more than 70 books for children and young adults, including the Noughts and Crosses series of novels (Corgi), said: “I am truly honoured and more than a little stunned to be the recipient of the 2022 PEN Pinter Prize. I have long admired Harold Pinter for his courage and dedication to human rights and social justice and have always believed in the power of the creative arts to connect and communicate with others. I especially believe in the power of fiction to shine a spotlight on the truth and feel truly blessed that I predominantly write for the most discerning, honest audience – young adults and children. Thank you English PEN for considering me a worthy recipient of this award.”