Hernan Diaz

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Set to receive 2025 Helmerich Award

Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling Argentine American author Hernan Diaz is coming to Tulsa Dec. 4 and 5 to receive the 2025 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, given by the Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Library Trust.

Diaz will receive the Helmerich Award, which consists of a $40,000 cash prize and an engraved crystal book, at a black-tie gala in his honor on Friday, Dec. 5. He will give a free public presentation at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4, and speak about his life and works, answer questions and sign autographs. Copies of his books will be available for purchase at the event. Both presentations will take place at Central Library, Fifth Street and Denver Avenue.

Who is Hernan Diaz?

Diaz is the Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of two novels, “In the Distance” and “Trust,” published in 37 languages, and a nonfiction book, “Borges, Between History and Eternity.” Diaz was the recipient of the 2023 John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, given to “a writer whose contributions to American literature have demonstrated consistent excellence.”

His first novel, “In the Distance,” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, and a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Book of the Year and one of Lit Hub’s 20 Best Novels of the Decade.

His second novel, “Trust,” received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was a New York Times bestseller, the winner of the Kirkus Prize and longlisted for the Booker Prize, among other nominations. It was listed as a best book of the year by over 30 publications and named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR and Time magazine, and was one of The New Yorker’s 12 Essential Reads of the Year and one of The New York Times’ Best 100 Books of the 21st Century. “Trust” is currently being developed as a limited series for HBO, starring Kate Winslet.

For more information about the Distinguished Author Award, visit www.tulsalibrary.org/helmerichaward or call 918-549-7323.