The Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize is a literary award presented annually for the "best book-length work of prose fiction" by an American woman. The award has been given by the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women's Studies and the Department of English at the University of Rochester since 1975.
Each winner is awarded $15,000.
The prize is named for a 30-year-old editor killed in an auto accident. Family, friends, and associates in the publishing industry endowed the prize as a memorial to Kafka and "the literary standards and personal ideals for which she stood".
Winners Year of work Recipient Title of work Publisher1975Jessamyn WestThe Massacre at Fall CreekHarcourt, Brace, Jovanovich1976Judith GuestOrdinary PeopleViking Press1977Toni MorrisonSong of SolomonAlfred A. Knopf1978Mary GordonFinal PaymentsRandom House1979Barbara Chase-RiboudSally HemingsViking Press1980Anne TylerMorgan's PassingAlfred A. Knopf1981Mary GordonThe Company of WomenRandom House1982Mary Lee SettleThe Killing GroundFarrar, Straus and Giroux1983Joan ChaseDuring the Reign of the Queen of PersiaHarper & Row1984Rosellen BrownCivil WarsAlfred A. Knopf1985Ursula K. Le GuinAlways Coming HomeHarper & Row1986Hortense CalisherThe Bobby SoxerDoubleday1987Gail GodwinA Southern FamilyWilliam Morrow and Company1988Kathryn DavisLabradorFarrar, Straus and Giroux1989Marianne WigginsJohn DollarHarper & Row1990Valerie MartinMary ReillyDoubleday1990Karen Tei YamashitaThrough the Arc of the Rain ForestCoffee House Press1993Sherri SzemanThe Kommandant’s MistressHarperCollins1994Ann PatchettTaftHoughton Mifflin Harcourt1995Melissa PritchardThe Instinct for BlissZoland Books1996Kathleen CamborThe Book of MercyFarrar, Straus and Giroux1997Cristina GarcíaThe Agüero SistersAlfred A. Knopf1998Nicole MonesLost in TranslationDell Publishing1999Susan HubbardBlue MoneyUniversity of Missouri Press2000Carrie BrownThe Hatbox BabyWorkman Publishing Company2001Edie MeidavThe Far Field: A Novel of CeylonHoughton Mifflin Harcourt2002Joyce HackettDisturbance of the Inner EarCarroll & Graf2003Kate MosesWinteringSt. Martin's Press2004Sarah Shun-lien BynumMadeleine Is SleepingHarcourt2005Jill CimentThe Tattoo ArtistPantheon Books2006Nell FreudenbergerThe DissidentEcco Press2007Miranda Beverly-WhittemoreSet Me FreeWarner Books2008Saher AlamThe Groom to Have BeenSpiegel & Grau2009Isla MorleyCome SundayFarrar, Straus and Giroux2010Linda LeGarde GroverThe Dance BootsUniversity of Georgia Press2011Amy WaldmanThe SubmissionFarrar, Straus and Giroux2012Anna KeeseyLittle CenturyFarrar, Straus and Giroux2013Ru FreemanOn Sal Mal LaneGraywolf Press2014Jacinda TownsendSaint MonkeyW. W. Norton & Company2015Mia AlvarIn the CountryAlfred A. Knopf2016Elizabeth PolinerAs Close to Us as BreathingLee Boudreaux Books2017Marian CrottyWhat Counts as LoveUniversity of Iowa Press2018Tiffany Quay TysonThe Past Is NeverSimon & Schuster2019Margaret Wilkerson SextonThe RevisionersCounterpoint2020Danielle EvansThe Office of Historical CorrectionsRiverhead Books2021Rebecca SacksCity of a Thousand GatesHarperCollins2022Claire StanfordHappy for YouViking Press2023Ye ChunStraw Dogs of the UniverseCatapult2024Claire OshetskyPoor DeerEcco
See also
List of literary awards honoring women List of American literary awards
Notes
External links