Judges have selected the finalists for the 2026 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel:
- The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown)
- Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan (Pantheon)
- Blob by Maggie Su (Harper)
“Whether it be through finely tuned voices, fresh takes on old forms, or exquisite world-building, this year’s finalists stand out for their daring and breathtaking application of craft,” said PEN/Faulkner Awards Committee chair Lauren Francis-Sharma. “These three debuts show us how to mark humanity on a page and remind us how we discover our best selves through our relationships with others. We are delighted to showcase the immense talents of these exemplary novelists.”
This year’s judges—Rachel Beanland, Dionne Irving, and Taymour Soomro—considered 146 eligible novels by American authors published in the US during the 2025 calendar year. Submissions came from 59 publishing houses, including small and academic presses.
Beanland, Irving, and Soomro prepared the following statement: “While these books are very different from one another, they each in their own way speak to loneliness and grief and this sense that, in the midst of so much chaos and loss, we are wired to keep going and to strive for connection and meaning. These books approached some heavy subjects—death, displacement, and even heartbreak—with honesty, humility and humor, and in reading them, we felt cracked open and also maybe, in some small way, hopeful.”
This year’s winner, who will receive $10,000, will be announced in early April. All three authors will be honored on April 26 at the 50th Anniversary PEN/Hemingway Award Ceremony, to be held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, MA. They will also be granted a two-week residency at Ucross Foundation, which includes a private studio space, living accommodations, meals prepared by a professional chef, and staff support on Ucross’s 20,000-acre ranch in northern Wyoming.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Virginia Evans attended James Madison University for her bachelor’s in English literature. After starting a family, she went back to school for her master’s of philosophy in creative writing at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, where she had the good fortune to study under Carlo Gébler, Eoin McNamee, Claire Keegan, Harry Clifton, and Kevin Power. She now lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband, Mark, two children, Jack and Mae, and her Red Labrador, Brigid.
Susanna Kwan is an artist and writer from San Francisco. Her work has been supported by fellowships from Kundiman, Storyknife, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, and Vanderbilt University. Awake in the Floating City is her first novel. She teaches writing with The Dream Side.
Maggie Su is a writer and editor. She received a PhD in fiction from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA from Indiana University. Her work has appeared in New England Review, Four Way Review, TriQuarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, Juked, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She currently lives in South Bend, Indiana with her partner, cat, and turtle.
ABOUT OUR 2026 JUDGES
Rachel Beanland is the author of the novels The Half Life (2026), The House Is on Fire (2023), and Florence Adler Swims Forever (2020), which won the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction. Beanland attended the University of South Carolina and earned her MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University. She lives in Richmond, Virginia and is currently the Donaldson Writer-in-Residence at the College of William & Mary.
Dionne Irving is originally from Mississauga, Ontario. She is the author of the novel Quint and the short story collection The Islands. Her work has appeared in Electric Lit, Story, Boulevard, and LitHub, among other journals and magazines. The Islands was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Giller Prize, the New American Voices Award, and the Clara Johnson Award, and it was also named one of the best books of 2022 by NPR. Irving teaches in the MFA Program and serves as the director of the Initiative on Race and Resilience at the University of Notre Dame.
Taymour Soomro is the author of the novel Other Names for Love (2022) and the co-editor of the essay collection Letters to a Writer of Color (2023). His writing has appeared in The New Yorker and the New York Times. He has received fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Sozopol Fiction Seminars, and the Bread Loaf Writers Conference.
ABOUT THE PEN/FAULKNER FOUNDATION
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation champions the breadth and power of fiction in America. We achieve that mission by administering the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story to help call the world’s attention toward literary achievements; by bringing free books and authors into under-resourced DC schools to inspire the next generation of readers and writers; and by curating public literary programs to amplify the work of accomplished authors. For more information, visit www.penfaulkner.org.
ABOUT THE HEMINGWAY FOUNDATION AND SOCIETY
The Hemingway Foundation was established in 1965 by Mary Hemingway, Ernest’s widow, “for the purposes of awakening, sustaining an interest in, promoting, fostering, stimulating, supporting, improving, and developing literature.” The Hemingway Foundation and Society is proud to promote Hemingway scholarship and new voices in American fiction.
ABOUT THE UCROSS FOUNDATION
Located in northern Wyoming in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains, Ucross fosters the creative spirit of working artists by providing uninterrupted time, studio space, living accommodations, and the experience of the majestic High Plains, while serving as a responsible steward of its 20,000-acre ranch. Since 1983, Ucross has provided more than 3,000 residencies to writers, visual artists, composers, and choreographers. Learn more at ucross.org.
ABOUT THE JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is one of 16 presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization. The JFK Library stewards the Ernest Hemingway Collection, including over 90% of his known papers and over 11,000 personal photographs. The Collection was donated by Hemingway’s widow, Mary, with the assistance of Jacqueline Kennedy, and is open by appointment for onsite research. Visitors can explore the collection online.