Alumni story
Ann Patchett ’85 Honored at PEN America Gala, Latest Novel Praised by The New York Times
On May 14, bestselling author and bookseller Ann Patchett ’85 received the 2026 PEN/Audible Literary Service Award. The award cites her “singular humane voice” as a novelist and her dedication to independent bookselling and nurturing a vibrant literary community through Parnassus Books, her bookstore in Nashville.
Patchett recently published her tenth novel Whistler (Harper). The deft story about a family’s platonic, later-in-life love was lauded in a recent New York Times review. “Is there a place in serious literature for kind, happy characters and kind, happy stories? This intimate and entertaining novel makes the strong case that there is; as demonstrated across her work, such sturdiness of spirit is part of Patchett’s generous worldview.”