Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: PEN/Faulkner Foundation Award for Fiction Longlist

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

This week, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced the longlist for their prestigious fiction award. From the about page for the award:

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction honors the best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar year. Three writers are chosen annually by the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to serve as judges, ensuring that our awards selection process is free of commercial influence. These judges select an initial longlist of ten books, followed by five finalists, and finally one winner as the “first among equals.” The author of the winning book receives a $15,000 prize. The authors of each of the other finalists receive $5,000. The Award is presented at an annual celebration of the year’s distinguished books and authors. This exquisite literary evening features introductions by the PEN/Faulkner Award judges, original presentations by the year’s PEN/Faulkner Award winner and four finalists, and a star-studded list of notable guests, including our PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion.

This year's longlist includes the following titles:

• Witness by Jamel Brinkley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Guest by Emma Cline (Random House)
• Monica by Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
• Open Throat by Henry Hoke (MCD)
• The Best Possible Experience by Nishanth Injam (Pantheon)
• What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez (Grand Central)
• Biography of X by Catherine Lacey (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead)
• Absolution by Alice McDermott (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Users by Colin Winnette (Soft Skull)

To see the full announcement including information on this year's judges, click here. 

The breadth of titles being considered is among the best in literary fiction on this list is refreshing. There are some of the books we have seen on many best lists as well as some library mainstay authors, but the inclusion of a few books I have not even heard of and the Clowes graphic novel is awesome. 

This inclusion of lesser known authors is important because this is not an award that exists in an isolated ivory tower. Go to the landing page for the awards and scroll below the information about the current 2024  award and take a look at the books and authors that have been long listed and honored in the past. Almost all are books and authors you know about.

At the very least, take make sure these titles are in your collections. And find ways to get them into the hands of readers, especially the lesser known titles, and especially give them to your literary fiction fans. All of these titles on the current list or past lists are also excellent book discussion choices.

Finally, you can click here to learn more about the PEN/Faulkner Foundation's education programs. They will work with you to bring authors to your school or library. Yet another reason to know about this resource.