The eight recipients of the 2025 Windham-Campbell Prizes will visit the Yale campus next week for a four-day festival to share their work with the local community and celebrate the written word.
The annual fall festival, which runs Sept. 16 through Sept. 19, will feature a keynote address by Kwame Dawes, Jamaica's poet laureate and a 2019 recipient of the Windham-Campbell prize, as well as conversations with the latest honorees on a broad range of subjects, and readings of their work. All events are free and open to the public.
"We are thrilled to once again gather at Yale to recognize the achievements of the 2025 prize recipients and learn more about their work and perspectives," said Michael Kelleher, director of the Windham-Campbell Prizes. "Providing students and the public the opportunity to interact with the prize recipients in fun and meaningful ways is a highlight of organizing the festival. It's always rewarding to see the recipients connect with the community as they mark the joys of writing and reading."
The 2025 recipients, announced on March 24, are, in fiction, Sigrid Nunez (United States) and Anne Enright (Ireland); in nonfiction, Patricia J. Williams (United States) and Rana Dasgupta (United Kingdom); in drama, Roy Williams (United Kingdom) and Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini (United Kingdom); and in poetry, Anthony V. Capildeo (Scotland/Trinidad and Tobago) and Tongo Eisen-Martin (United States).
The full schedule is available on the Windham-Campbell Prizes website.
Administered by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, which is part of the Yale University Library, the Windham-Campbell Prizes are conferred annually to eight writers working in English anywhere in the world in recognition of their literary achievement or promise. Each recipient is awarded $175,000 to support their work.
This year's festival kicks off at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 16, with a welcome event under a tent on Cross Campus. Local food trucks will serve free refreshments.
