New York City, May 13, 2015—PEN American Center, the largest branch of the world’s leading literary and human rights organization, announced today the winners and runners-up of the 2015 PEN Literary Awards, the most comprehensive literary awards program in the country. Among the awards is the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, which celebrates writing that exemplifies literary excellence on the subject of physical and biological sciences. The winner receives a cash award of $10,000 and will be honored at the PEN Literary Awards.
The 2015 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Winner is:
Joshua Horwitz, War of the Whales (Simon & Schuster)
From the Judges’ Citation
“Joshua Horwitz’s ‘War of the Whales’ begins with the mysterious and disturbing marine mammal stranding that took place in the Bahamas in 2000—the ‘largest multispecies stranding ever recorded’—with more than a dozen beaked whales washing ashore, some dead, many bleeding from their ears. When marine biologist Ken Balcomb investigates the cause, suspecting a new, high-intensity ocean-wide sonar being tested by the Navy to hide its submarines, he is undermined and stymied at every turn by formidable and secretive government agents. Horwitz’s dogged reporting—which matches Balcomb’s own intensity as he pursues the truth and puts his life on the line to hold the Navy accountable—combined with crisp, cinematic writing, produces a powerful narrative about the collision of technology in the name of national security and the seemingly quixotic attempt to preserve our living oceans. In exposing this largely unknown story, Joshua Horwitz raises crucial questions about how, as humans, we should regard our relationship to other intelligent, socially complex mammals. He has written a book that is instructive and passionate and deserving a wide audience.”
2015 Judges
Sue Halpern, Marie Myung-Ok Lee, and Carl Zimmer
Shortlist for 2015:
• War of the Whales: A True Story (Simon & Schuster), Joshua Horwitz
• How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World (Riverhead Books), Steven Johnson
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt and Co.), Elizabeth Kolbert
• The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era (Scribner), Craig Nelson
• Proof: The Science of Booze (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Adam Rogers
Longlist for 2015:
• War of the Whales: A True Story (Simon & Schuster), Joshua Horwitz
• How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World (Riverhead Books), Steven Johnson
• The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery (Little, Brown and Company), Sam Kean
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Henry Holt and Co.), Elizabeth Kolbert
• Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery (Dartmouth College Press), Catherine Musemeche MD
• The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era (Scribner), Craig Nelson
• Proof: The Science of Booze (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Adam Rogers
• The Copernicus Complex: Our Cosmic Significance in a Universe of Planets and Probabilities (Scientific American/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Caleb Scharf
• Arrival of the Fittest: Solving Evolution’s Greatest Puzzle (Current), Andreas Wagner
Previous Winners
Carl Hart, High Price (Harper)
Leonard Mlodinow, Subliminal (Pantheon)
James Gleick, The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (Pantheon Books)
Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (Scribner)
The PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award was founded by scientist and author Dr. Edward O. Wilson, activist and actor Harrison Ford, and the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.The inaugural award was conferred in 2011.
Award winners and runners-up will be honored at the 2015 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony on June 8, 2015, at the New School. Read the full list of the 2015 PEN Literary Award winners on the PEN American Center’s website.
Read more:
“A Win For The Whales: Navy Agrees To Limit Sonar Use (Interview with Joshua Horowitz).” NPR’s All Things Considered. September 19, 2015.
“War of the Whales: A True Story” in Science Book a Day (May 3, 2015)
“Nonfiction Book Review: War of the Whales: A True Story” in Publishers Weekly (July 2014)
“Kirkus Review: War of the Whales: A True Story” in Kirkus (May 17, 2014)
Joshua Horwitz’s Remarks on Accepting the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
2015 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony, New York City, 8 June 2015
“I’m honored to receive this PEN/E.O. Wilson award. And I feel particularly proud to have my name linked to E.O. Wilson’s.
Wilson has always been a hero of mine for being such a tireless champion of biodiversity. I’m especially indebted to him for coining the concept of “Biophilia,” which informs every chapter of my book.
Biophilia, as Wilson describes it, is our affinity and love for all living creatures. Wilson’s genius lies in his recognition that this bond is more than a simple sentimental attraction to the charisma of animals. Biophilia is a hardwired, instinctual trait that carries a strong evolutionary advantage. We care deeply about nonhuman animals because we understand that we all have a shared stake in the survival of a biodiverse planet. With less biodiversity, our planet is less alive, and we are each less complete.
While the title of my book is War of the Whales, I grew to understand this tale of humans and whales as a love story. All of the diverse characters in my book—whether marine mammal researchers, environmental attorneys, or Navy scientists—had been touched by their personal contact with whales in a way that changed the course of their lives and careers. I count myself as one of those humans who has been touched and profoundly moved by the majestic order of cetacea. And for that I count myself very fortunate.”
—Joshua Horwitz
