Essayist and memoirist Sarah Perry to Judge 2026 Page Prize in Nonfiction. The contest opens January 1.

“A pinch, to me, is a seemingly quiet way to wake a person up, to direct their attention, to make a little space for their attention.”

What do you think it means to be Pinchy? Or for a piece to be Pinchy? I think it means you don’t mind the friction of the living; that sequitur and non-sequitur, nonsense and a great hope can all be together, and the work included in Pinch requires those tensions.

Photo Credit: Jason Lee Brown

Contributors: Lisa Allen, Orion Allen, Maddie Barone, Eben E. B. Bien, Mason Best, Aditi Bhattacharjee, Timothy Boudreau, Andy Butter, Elizabeth Childs, Paul Christiansen, Stasha Cole, Whitney Collins, Brianna DiMonda, Hasan Dudar, Alan Elyshevitz, AJ Francia, Gabriela Denise Frank, Gianna Gaetano, Mark Gallini, June Gervais, Dan Grote, Amy Guidry, Jason Hardung, Sophia Hoag, Sophie Hoss, Christine Kai-Lin Huang, JDG, Karen Kao, Lena Kinder, Marianne Kunkel, S.A. Leger, Kelsey D. Mahaffey, Marina Manoukian, Nasta Martyn, Kristi Maxwell, Thomas McEvoy, Bo Hee Moon, Erik Moyer, Amanda Nyren, Läilä Örken, Boluwatife Oyediran, Hari B Parisi, Lexi Pelle, Thomas Puschautz, David Raskin, Stephanie Reddoch, Victoria Jean Reynolds, Megan Ritchie, Stephen Thomas Roberts, Suqi Karen Sims, Slater By The Sea, Misha Tentser, McKenzie Teter, Alyssandra Tobin, Rachel Turney, Amy Renne Webb, Justin Williams, Shelby Wimberly, Jean Wolff, Tina S. Zhu

“Pinch and her works are not eccentric for the sole purpose of achieving uniqueness to the point of triteness, but rather with precise intention and narrative purpose. Pinch is real life, pinchy is the 180-degree turn required to communicate that reality in a refreshing and poignantly unconventional way.”

Photo Credit: Grant Durr