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The award, announced Wednesday, goes to a writer "whose body of work represents an exceptional contribution to the field." The judges were David Granger, Laura Hillenbrand and Steve Isenberg. It carries a prize of $5,000.
Deford, 74, is a longtime sportswriter and NPR correspondent. Last month he received a National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony.
In addition to his 50-year tenure at Sports Illustrated, Deford appears weekly on National Public Radio and as senior correspondent for "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" on HBO. He has written 18 books, nine of them novels. His most recent book was "Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter," a memoir published last year.
The 2013 PEN Literary Awards are the most comprehensive literary awards program in the country. This year’s recipients also include Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Boo, former Poet Laureate Robert Hass, acclaimed playwright Larry Kramer, co-editors of Mother Jones Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, debut novelist Sergio De La Pava, as well as many other notable emerging and established authors.
Award winners and runners-up will be honored at the 2013 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony on Monday, Oct. 21, at CUNY Graduate Center’s Proshansky Auditorium in New York City, featuring Master of Ceremonies Andy Borowitz.
To read more about the PEN Award winners, visit the official website.
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