We are thrilled to announce the longlist of books for the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, America’s most prestigious peer-juried literary prize. The longlist includes the following ten titles:
- Bestiary by K-Ming Chang (One World)
- Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason (HarperCollins)
- Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear by Matthew Salesses (Little A)
- The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe (Alfred A. Knopf)
- Mother Daughter Widow Wife by Robin Wasserman (Scribner)
- Nine Shiny Objects by Brian Castleberry (Custom House)
- The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans (Riverhead)
- Scattered Lights by Steve Wiegenstein (Cornerpost)
- The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (West Virginia University Press)
- Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Alfred A. Knopf)
“These extraordinary times have called forth extraordinary art,” said PEN/Faulkner’s Awards Committee Chair, Louis Bayard, “and the ten titles chosen for our longlist are a powerful reminder that fiction is as essential as ever.”
In selecting the longlist, this year’s judges–Charles Finch, Bernice L. McFadden, and Alexi Zentner–considered 419 eligible novels and short story collections by American authors published in the US during the 2020 calendar year. Submissions came from 170 publishing houses, including small and academic presses. From this longlist, the judges will select five distinguished finalists for the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Those finalists will be announced in early March. The winning book–the “first among equals,” selected from among the five finalists–will be announced in April.
Click here for more information on the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award Celebration.