Sudanese-British author Leila Aboulela has been announced as the winner of the 2025 PEN Pinter Prize.
The award will be formally presented to her in October at a ceremony at the British Library in London, where she will also announce the PEN Pinter “Writer of Courage” for 2025 — a writer who has risked persecution to defend freedom of expression.
The PEN Pinter Prize, established in memory of Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter in 2009, is awarded annually to a writer of outstanding literary merit who also demonstrates fierce intellectual determination. The prize is open to writers based in the UK, Ireland, the Commonwealth, or former Commonwealth nations.
This year’s judging panel: Ruth Borthwick (Chair of English PEN), poet Mona Arshi, and novelist Nadifa Mohamed praised Aboulela for her “nuanced and rich perspectives on themes that are vital in our contemporary world: faith, migration, and displacement.” Her writing was described as “a balm, a shelter, and an inspiration.”
Born and raised in Khartoum, Aboulela has lived in Aberdeen since 1990. She is the author of six novels, including River Spirit, The Translator, Minaret, and Lyrics Alley, which won the Scottish Book Award. She was the first ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, and her short story collection Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award. Her work has been translated into fifteen languages, and she has written extensively for BBC Radio. She is an Honorary Professor at the University of Aberdeen and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Reacting to the news, Aboulela said:
“This comes as a complete and utter surprise. Thank you English PEN and the judges for considering my work worthy of this award. For someone like me, a Muslim Sudanese immigrant who writes from a religious perspective probing the limits of secular tolerance, this recognition feels truly significant. It brings expansion and depth to the meaning of freedom of expression and whose stories get heard.”
The PEN Pinter Prize is shared with a “Writer of Courage” selected by English PEN’s Writers at Risk Committee in association with the main recipient. This half of the award honours a writer who has faced persecution for speaking out.
Previous winners of the PEN Pinter Prize include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2018), Lemn Sissay (2023), Linton Kwesi Johnson (2020), and Tsitsi Dangarembga (2021).
Aboulela will receive her award in October, when the 2025 Writer of Courage will also be named.
Congratulations, Leila Aboulela!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
