Arna Bontemps Hemenway wins PEN/Hemingway Award

Arna Bontemps Hemenway has won the 2015 PEN/Hemingway Award for a distinguished first book of fiction for “Elegy on Kinderklavier” (Sarabande).

Hemenway is the son of former KU chancellor Robert Hemenway and a graduate of Lawrence High School and University of Iowa.

Arna Hemenway will receive $20,000 from the Hemingway Family, the Ernest Hemingway Society/Foundation and PEN New England, as well as a residency in the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series at the University of Idaho’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. The award will be presented April 19 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

Hemenway lives in Iowa City with his wife, Marissa.

The Star

This story was originally published April 10, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Arna Bontemps Hemenway wins PEN/Hemingway Award."