Sheri Fink’s ‘Five Days at Memorial,’ about hospital and Hurricane Katrina, wins $10,000 award

NEW YORK, N.Y. – An author whose book “Five Days at Memorial” tells of a New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina has won a $10,000 prize for nonfiction.

The literary and human rights organization PEN announced Wednesday that Sheri Fink had won the PEN/John Galbraith Award for a book of “notable literary merit” that highlights an important contemporary issue.

Joshua Horwitz’s “War of the Whales” won the $10,000 PEN/E.O. Wilson prize for science writing. John Branch’s “Boy On Ice” won the $5,000 PEN/ESPN award for sports writing.

Anna Whitelock’s “The Queen’s Bed” received a $5,000 prize for biography. And Saeed Jones’ “Prelude to Bruise” won the $5,000 PEN award for poetry.