Recent visiting writer Tony Tulathimutte wins $150,000 literary prize

Tony Tulathimutte, who visited the New York State Writers Institute in 2025, has been named the inaugural recipient of the Jack Galef Literary Arts Award, a new $150,000 prize administered by the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

The new award, established through the estate of poet and Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnus Jack Galef.

In a story published in Iowa Now, we learn "The Jack Galef Literary Arts Award will be presented every two years to support a younger writer who has demonstrated great talent or to recognize the work of a more established writer who has been underrecognized. Recipients will be selected by a committee of workshop faculty."

Tony was our guest in February 2025 to discuss his 2024 short story collection, Rejection — described by author and fellow Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate Carmen Maria Machado as “unrelentingly brutal and gut-bustingly funny.” Rejection was longlisted for the National Book Award.