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.
Last week, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced the longlists for their prestigious fiction and debut awards. 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:
- Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)
- Brother Brontë by Fernando A. Flores (MCD)
- The Devil Is a Southpaw by Brandon Hobson (Ecco)
- The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes (One World)
- The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove Press)
- Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore (Tin House)
- An Oral History of Atlantis by Ed Park (Random House)
- Small Scale Sinners by Mahreen Sohail (A Public Space Books)
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. We have literary titles, popular bestselling ones, and some I have not heard of. SA Cosby and Lily King are among our most popular authors. This list is not a snotty literary list for only a small slice of your readers. It is for everyone who enjoys a good read.
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 2025 award and take a look at the books and authors that have been long listed and honored in the past. Backlist access is super easy. Almost all are books and authors you know about...now.
Speaking of the lesser known titles, along with the fiction list, they also released the longlist of books being considered for the 2026 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel:
- Trip by Amie Barrodale (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown (Henry Holt)
- The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown)
- The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne (Little, Brown)
- Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan (Pantheon)
- North Sun by Ethan Rutherford (Deep Vellum)
- Blob by Maggie Su (Harper)
- Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee (Summit Books)
At the very least, take make sure all of these titles are in your collections. And find ways to get them into the hands of readers, especially the lesser known titles.
And again, please remember that these titles are NOT just for your literary fiction fans. SA Cosby and Lily King are very popular with a wide swath of readers.
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.
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