The Chautauqua Janus Prize

TThe Chautauqua Janus Prize logohe Chautauqua Janus Prize was awarded for the first time in 2018, celebrating an emerging writer’s single work of short fiction or nonfiction for daring formal and aesthetic innovations that upset and reorder readers’ imaginations. In addition to receiving a $5000 award, the winner gives a lecture on the grounds during the summer season and appears in a forthcoming issue of the Chautauqua literary journal.

Named for Janus, the Roman god who looks to both the past and the future, the prize will honor writing with a command of craft that renovates our understandings of both. The prize is funded by a generous donation from Barbara and Twig Branch.

Chautauqua Janus Prize Winners available for purchase:

Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology By Alex Hernandez (Editor), Matthew David Goodwin (Editor), Sarah Rafael García (Editor) Cover Image
$24.95
ISBN: 9780814257982
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mad Creek Books - September 8th, 2021

Includes 2022 Chautauqua Janus Prize Winner, "Jean" by Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos.


Sink: A Memoir By Joseph Earl Thomas Cover Image
$28.00
ISBN: 9781538706176
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Grand Central Publishing - February 21st, 2023

Joseph Earl Thomas won the 2020 Chautauqua Janus Prize with an excerpt of his 2023 memoir, Sink. 


Includes 2019 Chautauqua Janus Prize Winner, "Tree rings, like concentric ghosts" by My Tran.


Atlas of the Body By Nicole Cuffy Cover Image
$8.95
ISBN: 9781625578754
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Black Lawrence Press - March 6th, 2018