Chang, Hosseini, and Redmond
to Receive the Writers for Writers Award
Jordan Pavlin of Alfred A. Knopf
to Receive the Editor's Award
(From left: Tina Chang, Khaled Hosseini, Eugene B. Redmond, Jordan Pavlin.
Credits: Beowulf Sheehan, Haris Hosseini, Courtesy of Eugene B. Redmond, Elena Seibert.)
New York, NY—January 12, 2026—Poets & Writers today announced that Tina Chang, Khaled Hosseini, and Eugene B. Redmond will receive the 2026 Writers for Writers Award. Jordan Pavlin of Alfred A. Knopf will receive the 2026 Editor’s Award.
Award recipients are selected by a committee composed of current and past members of the Poets & Writers Board of Directors, chaired by literary agent Eric Simonoff. Of the 2026 honorees, Simonoff said: “We are delighted to honor three exceptionally generous authors and an outstanding editor. Each of them has made significant and enduring contributions to the literary community that have shaped the field in meaningful ways, and we are proud to recognize them.”
The awards will be presented at Poets & Writers’ annual gala, In Celebration of Writers, on March 23, 2026, in New York City. David Shelley, CEO of Hachette Book Group, is the chair of the event.
THE WRITERS FOR WRITERS AWARD
The Writers for Writers Award was established by Poets & Writers in 1996 to recognize authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community. Through their volunteer service, philanthropy, and dedication to writers and readers, the 2026 honorees exemplify Poets & Writers’ core values of service, inclusivity, and excellence.
Poet Tina Chang is being recognized for her tireless advocacy for poetry and for writers. Among her many acts of service to the poetry community are her decade-plus tenure as Brooklyn Poet Laureate, the establishment of the poet-in-residence program at the Brooklyn Public Library, work to connect the Asian American and African American writing communities in collaboration with the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and Cave Canem, and her partnership with the Community-Word Project to connect student writers and teaching artists. Chang is the author of the poetry collections Hybrida (W. W. Norton, 2019), which NPR named “one of the most important books of poetry to come along in years,” as well as Of Gods & Strangers (Four Way Books, 2011), and Half-Lit Houses (Four Way Books, 2004). Co-editor of the 2008 Norton anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond, she is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Laureate fellowship, as well as awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, among many others. She is a professor of English and director of creative writing at Binghamton University as well as a visiting professor at Harvard University. Her poetry collection Lion is forthcoming from W. W. Norton in September 2026.
Novelist Khaled Hosseini was selected for his outspoken opposition to book bans and championing of free speech protections, as well as his humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable Afghan communities he writes about through the Khaled Hosseini Foundation. He was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965, and was granted political asylum in the U.S. in 1980, after the Soviet invasion of his birthplace. Khaled studied medicine and practiced as a physician in California until 2004, after which he dedicated himself to writing. He is the author of The Kite Runner (Riverhead Books, 2003), A Thousand Splendid Suns (Riverhead Books, 2007), and other books. Hosseini has served as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, since 2006.
Poet Eugene B. Redmond will be honored for his decades of generous advocacy and support for other writers, and for his profound influence on generations of Black writers. An emeritus professor of English at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Redmond was named Poet Laureate of East St. Louis in 1976, the year his groundbreaking study Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry (Anchor Press) was published. His books of poetry include The Eye in the Ceiling (Writers and Readers Publishing, 1991), In a Time of Rain and Desire (Black River Writers, 1973), and his collected works, Arkansippi Memwars: Poetry, Prose & Chants 1962–2012 (Third World Press, 2017). A key figure of the Black Arts Movement, Redmond edited several posthumous collections of Henry Dumas’s work with support from Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Amiri Baraka. Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and two American Book Awards, Redmond is a beloved poet, photographer, and mentor who has shaped generations of artists worldwide.
THE EDITOR’S AWARD
The Editor’s Award recognizes book editors who have made an outstanding contribution to the publication of poetry or literary prose over a sustained period of time. This year’s recipient is Jordan Pavlin, executive vice president, publisher, and editor in chief at Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Penguin Random House.
Authors with whom Pavlin has worked include Maggie O’Farrell, Michelle Zauner, Kaveh Akbar, Jenny Offill, Susan Minot, Ethan Hawke, Karen Russell, Maggie Shipstead, Julie Orringer, Yaa Gyasi, Sue Monk Kidd, Nathan Englander, Dinaw Mengestu, Tommy Orange, Megha Majumdar, Tayari Jones, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Daniyal Mueenuddin.
The honorees’ full biographies can be found here.
For tickets and additional information about the Poets & Writers Gala, visit pw.org/gala.
ABOUT POETS & WRITERS
Founded in 1970, Poets & Writers has been the primary source of trustworthy information, professional guidance, support, and inspiration for writers for fifty-five years. Our work is rooted in the belief that literature is vital to sustaining a vibrant culture, and we focus on nurturing literature’s source: creative writers. Our mission is to foster the professional development of poets and writers, to promote communication throughout the literary community, and to help create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible public.
We advance this mission through our flagship publication, Poets & Writers Magazine; pw.org, a website that offers writers information, inspiration, and a lively online community; and programs that provide professional development opportunities, financial support, and validation for writers. We sponsor the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award and the Jackson Poetry Prize. Our work is guided by our core values: service, inclusivity, integrity, and excellence, and by our commitment to becoming an antiracist organization. Learn more at pw.org.
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CONTACT
Rachel Schuder
Director, Development & Communications
Poets & Writers, Inc.
rschuder@pw.org
212-226-3586 x201