Ann Patchett Accepts the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award

Ann Patchett received the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award for her “singular humane voice” as a novelist and also for her dedication to independent bookselling and nurturing a vibrant literary community through Parnassus Books, her bookstore in Nashville. “Our lives are as miraculous as they are brief,” Patchett said, “so while we stand against injustice, we must also never fail to see that there is a whale hanging from the ceiling. If you think these are the darkest times, take a walk around this museum. The darkness and light cycle through every day, and right now we are here, alive and together, and for this I am enormously grateful.” Her friend Patrick Ryan, the novelist and short story writer, presented the award at the 2026 PEN America Literary Gala on May 14, 2026.