The Pegasus Prize for Literature is a

literary prize A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Man ...

established by

Mobil Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after history of ExxonMobil#merger, it and Mobil merge ...

(now

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

) in 1977 to honor works from countries whose literature is rarely translated into English. The prize includes a monetary award, a medal depicting Pegasus, and translation into English and subsequent publication of the work by

Louisiana State University Press The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of University Pres ...

. As at 2024 the Louisiana State University Press lists the Pegasus Prize as an inactive series. The country is first recommended by a committee and then an independent selection committee in the chosen nation determines the winner. Representatives to the country selection committee have included

Mona Simpson Mona Simpson (née Jandali; June 14, 1957) is an American novelist. She has written six novels and studied English at University of California, Berkeley, and languages and literature at Columbia University. She won a Whiting Award for her first ...

Alan Cheuse Alan Stuart Cheuse (January 23, 1940 – July 31, 2015) was an American writer, editor, professor of literature, and radio commentator. A longtime NPR book commentator, he was also the author of five novels, five collections of short stories and ...

, and

William Jay Smith William Jay Smith (April 22, 1918 – August 18, 2015) was an American poet. He was appointed the nineteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970. Life William Jay Smith was born in Winnfield, Louisi ...

. In 1984 Mobil focussed on New Zealand alongside its sponsorship of the ''

Te Maori ''Te Maori'' (or sometimes ''Te Māori'' in modern sources) was a landmark exhibition of Māori art (taonga) that toured the United States from 1984 to 1986, and New Zealand as '' Te Maori: Te Hokinga Mai'' ('the return home') from 1986 to 1987 ...

'' exhibition in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The selection panel came from outside the "literary establishment" and included both

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

and non-Māori (

pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

): Sidney Mead, Peter Sharples,

Anne Salmond Dame Mary Anne Salmond (née Thorpe; born 16 November 1945) is a New Zealand anthropologist. She was New Zealander of the Year in 2013. In 2020, she was appointed to the Order of New Zealand, the highest honour in New Zealand's royal honour ...

Terry Sturm Terence Laurie Sturm (11 July 1941 – 25 May 2009) was a New Zealand professor of English literature and editor. His scholarship was mainly in the fields of Australian and New Zealand literature. He lectured at the University of Sydney from 1 ...

, Elizabeth Murchie and Wiremu Parker.

Winners of the Pegasus Prize

* 1979 -

Kirsten Thorup Kirsten Thorup (born 1942) is a Danish author. Background and education Kirsten Thorup was born in Gelsted, Funen, Denmark in 1942. After a brief stay in Cambridge as an au pair, she studied English at the University of Copenhagen, dropping out ...

for ''

Baby In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...

'' * 1980 - Tidiane Dem for ''Masseni'' * 1983 -

Cees Nooteboom Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria "Cees" Nooteboom (; born 31 July 1933) is a Dutch novelist, poet and journalist. After the attention received by his novel '' Rituals'' (''Rituelen'', 1980), which won the Pegasus Prize, it was the first of his n ...

for ''

Rituals A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

'' * 1985 -

Keri Hulme Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme (9 March 194727 December 2021) was a New Zealand novelist, poet and short-story writer. She also wrote under the pen name Kai Tainui. Her novel ''The Bone People'' won the Booker Prize in 1985; she was the first New Zealand ...

for ''

The Bone People ''The Bone People'', styled by the writer and in some editions as ''the bone people'', is a 1984 novel by New Zealand writer Keri Hulme. Set on the coast of the South Island of New Zealand, the novel focuses on three characters, all of whom ar ...

''Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie, eds. ''The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature'', 1998. * 1986 - Ismail Marahimin for ''And the War is Over'' * 1989 -

Kjartan Fløgstad Kjartan Fløgstad (born 7 June 1944) is a Norwegian author. Fløgstad was born in the industrial city of Sauda in Ryfylke, Rogaland. He studied literature and linguistics at the University of Bergen. Subsequently, he worked for a period as an ...

for '' Dollar Road'' * 1991 -

Jia Pingwa Jia Pingwa (born 21 February 1952) is one of China's most popular authors of novels, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. His best-known novels include ''Ruined City'', which was banned by the State Publishing Administration for over 17 year ...

for ''Turbulence'' * 1993 - Martin Simecka for ''The Year of the Frog'' * 1994 - Bilge Karasu for ''Night'' * 1995 - Francisco Rebolledo for ''Rasero'' * 1996 - Mario de Carvalho for '' A God Strolling in the Cool of the Evening'' * 1998 - Ana Teresa Torres for ''Doña Inés vs. Oblivion''

References

{{Reflist

External links

Exxon Mobil Pegasus Prize
American literary awards