Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: The Center For Fiction First Novel Prize Edition

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.  

Yesterday, The Center for Fiction recently announced their longlist for the First Novel Prize. From that announcement: 

Announcing The Center for Fiction 2026 First Novel Prize Longlist

We are pleased to announce The Center for Fiction 2026 First Novel Prize Longlist. This year, we received over 180 submitted titles with U.S. publication dates between January 1 and December 31, 2026. More than 500 participants in The Center’s First Novel Prize Readership—including writers, librarians, booksellers, and other devoted readers—reviewed the submissions to help determine the 19 debut novels below.

Inaugurated in 2006, the First Novel Prize honors the best debut novel of the year and supports emerging voices in fiction. Each year, the winning author receives a $15,000 prize in recognition of their contribution to contemporary literature and in support of their ongoing creative career. Past winners of the Prize include Marisha Pessl, Junot Díaz, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Tommy Orange, Raven Leilani, and De’Shawn Charles Winslow. In the fall, our judging panel of four distinguished authors will select the 2026 First Novel Prize Shortlist and winner.

We invite you to celebrate these exciting new voices in contemporary fiction at two marquee events this winter. The shortlisted authors will read from their work and gather with the public at The Center for Fiction First Novel Fête on Friday, December 4, 2026. The First Novel Prize winner will be announced at The Center’s Annual Awards Benefit on Tuesday, December 8, 2026. Click here for more information.

We are proud to share these extraordinary books with you. Please join us in congratulating The Center for Fiction 2026 First Novel Prize longlisted authors.

The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize is supported in part by Hawthornden Foundation. For support opportunities, please reach out to Melissa Wyse at development@centerforfiction.org.

This award speaks for itself. You need to go check right now if you own all 19 of these novels. You probably have a lot of these, but make sure. I love how long this long list truly is. They are identifying a huge list of excellent debut novels to make sure all who deserve to be noticed in the crowded publishing landscape get their moment to shine.  

In the Fall there will be a short list narrowed down by a panel of judges, and each of those authors will get $1,000, which is important to note. Only 1 person can win the $15,000 prize, but that $1,000 for the short list authors will go a long way toward keeping them on th path to write a second book.

Also, don't forget, the easily accessed archive of every longlist author and winners for the First Novel Prize is also a treasure trove of information. Obviously, you can find authors who are now bestsellers in that backlist, yes. But what about those authors whose first novel got a ton of critical acclaim but then did not make that jump to being more well known? Not making that jump does not make them less worthy of being read; in fact, that debut novel may be the hidden gem titles your patrons will love and it will lead them to read everything that author wrote after.

And, not for nothing, your part in helping them to find that author they ending up loving but never would have known about with your help, well, that will make your patron a life long library fan and supporter. There is no better feeling in our work than connecting a reader with a book that becomes a favorite for life, especially when we were the ones who matched them with said book or author.

Great debut novels are something many readers seek out already when looking for their next great read, but remember, they don't have to be the debuts of right now. An author's debut is forever their debut whether or not they have written other books.

The backlist is a treasure trove here. Debuts are a popular category, and The Center for Fiction has been prioritizing their wok on debut authors since 2006. Their track record in singling out titles and authors has more than stood the test of time as well. This longlist and their award archive is a no brainer resource, today and always.

And before I go, I need to shout out that they even have a straight up horror novel on the list this year --Carrying by Samantha Joseph! I called this one out in my recent Horror Genre Preview as well (and not even in my debut section because it is that good). 

Spend some time thinking about Debuts. The category itself makes a great late summer display and you have 10 years of The Center for Fiction longlist titles to help you fill those shelves. Let them do the work for you.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: PEN/Faulkner Foundation Awards for Fiction and Debuts 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.  

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.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: National Book Critics Circle 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.   

The National Book Critics Circle Award Finalists were announced, one category at a time, all this week. You can see the full announcement here and the specific category announcements in the linked list below.

Since 1974, the NBCC, made up of mostly literary critics, honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism, and literature. 

The 2025 finalists are in 8 categories are:

• Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Biography 
• Autobiography
• Poetry
• Criticism
• Gregg Barrios Book in Translation

The separation of nonfiction, biography, and autobiography not only allows for more nonfiction to be honored, but is acknowledges the big difference between biography and autobiography both the obvious distinction of how it is written and the fact that the appeal for readers is different as well.

I always like comparing the National Book Award finalists to the NBCC. They are fairly similar, but you can see distinctions, especially if you follow reviews as I do. The NBA is chosen by a group of mostly authors, while the NBCC is driven by the critics. You can especially see trends emerging over time if you look at both. Thankfully, both awards make the backlist easy to access. [There is a box on the top right gutter of the "Awards" page for the NBCC.]

This year for example, while some of the fiction books on the longlists overlap, the National Book Award Winner is not even on the NBCC list, the other nominees are all different. This is great because it gives you many more "best" options for readers. Add in the Booker Prize and you get the big picture view of the best books published in English in any given year.

While "best" books aren't always the most popular with readers, they are the harbinger of larger movements. For example, as award finalists have gotten more diverse, the demand for more titles by marginalized voices has made it way into the conversation about all books.

So use this award list as a resource, as I note in the introduction to this post above, but also, think about grouping similar awards together, consider their backlists from the last 5 years (NBCC has easy access here), and see if you can notice a few trends or changes yourself. When we embrace trends and larger movements as they are developing, we show our patrons we understand them. Anticipating what they want is not that hard if you pay attention and it leads to more check outs.

Editor's note: The blog will return on Monday (12/22) with some library specific year in review content and then on Tuesday (12/23) I will end the year of posts with my Best Books Becky Read in 2025. After that, the blog will be on vacation, returning Monday, January 5, 2026.

Why I'm Reading: Persona and Itch! via Booklist

The December 2025 issue of Booklist features two reviews by me. Both are excellent choices for all library audiences. 

As usual, here on the blog I am presenting my draft review with lots of bonus info. 

First up an impressive debut,

Persona
by Aoife Josie Clements

Jan. 2026. 280p. LittlePuss, paper, $15.95  (9781964322063); e-book (9781964322070). First published December 1, 2025 (Booklist).

Annie, early twenties, is a trans girl who has become a shut-in, struggling to get by over the last year with a meager online job, as the garbage (and bugs drawn to it) builds up in her apartment. Her depression is getting worse by the day, making her question if she should even keep living. That is, until she happens upon a video, on a porn site, of a trans girl that looks and sounds exactly like her. Amy is that other girl and Clements introduces her story to readers in part two before bringing the doppelgängers together for a nightmarishly realistic and immersively terrifying journey, forcing the reader to take a long hard look at late stage capitalism, internet obsession, even what it means to be human. A disorienting story that will hold readers in its thrall much like the sf-horror tinged novels of Blake Crouch and Caitlin Starling, but also suggest to fans bleak but honestly thought provoking stories like Coup de Grȃce by Ajram and Tell Me I’m Worthless by Rumfitt.

Three Words That Describe This Book: disorienting, doppelgänger, nightmarish

Further Appeal: More words-- thought provoking, hard truths, immersive terror, SF horror.

An impressive Debut-- I am excited to see what else this author can do. The storylines of first Annie and then Amy-- telling the same story in part 1 and 2 but from Annie and then Amy's perspective was an awesome narrative choice. And then part 3, they come together-- it is so disorienting both because their names are similar and they look the same and they are in conversation back and forth..... what a great example of the writing itself adding to the readers disorientation. It ratchets up the unease and makes the entire story better.

And then they go on a road trip together and it all goes from disorienting to nightmarish and quite honestly existentially terrifying. This is when the book goes from a good horror story about 2 trans women who find out they look exactly the same and have mirror image apartments to a universally terrifying story.

It stays realistic even as it gets more nightmarish and delves into a bit of SF horror. So many stairs. I don't want to go into a stairwell anytime soon. Seriously. 

The entire metaphor of the doppelgänger as what it feels like to live as a transperson is not new-- the life before and after- but what Clements does with it is unique and new. Also, being trans in and of itself has nothing to do with the horror. It is just who these two women are. The horror is much much much bigger than them and their lives. I loved that as well. 

The book is a horror story that critics late stage capitalism, especially how hard it hits young workers, the horror of lives ruled by the internet, and how easy and horrific  it is for women on the fringes of society to turn to sex work for money. Loneliness, depression, suicide are all here. Garbage piling up and lots of bugs as well. But the garbage and bugs are there to set the stage. They are not the horror.

This book is a solid 4.5. Like a lot of excellent debuts, it needed a bit more at the end. I loved that the ending was not tidy and that all the problems were not solved. But it needed just a bit stronger of a statement about the SF esque horror parts. Something to bring the terror out of the book. The last pages try to do that but I think it could have been more effective and stronger (I am trying very hard to not give anything away). If that final page was a little more direct and less detached (to mirror the directness and immersive present of the rest of the book) it would have been 5 stars for sure.

Overall-- a strong debut that will linger with readers long after turning the final page, every time they log into an internet chat room or even (as I said before) started walking down a long stairwell. *shivers*

Readalikes: There are many ways this book could lead readers to another title. For Blake Crouch mentioned above, I would suggest Recursion or Dark Matter and for Caitlin Starling 100% Last to Leave the Room but also The Luminous Dead.

All of what I have said here should make it clear to you that this book about two trans girl is for a huge swath of your SF-Horror readers, no matter their own identities. Do not pigeon-hole this book or you and your readers will miss out on a exciting new voice.

ITCH!
By Gemma Amor

Jan. 2026. 352p. Mobius, $28  (9781399745369). 

First published December 1, 2025 (Booklist).

Josie has returned home to the village of Ellwood, known for its centuries old “Devil’s March” festival, to recover from the head injury sustained at the hands of her London girlfriend. After the most recent march, Josie finds the decomposed, bug-riddled, body of a young woman on the festival path. The discovery rocks Josie’s tenuous recovery, but it also gives her the strength to begin addressing the trauma of her own repressed memories, memories which are key to getting justice for the dead woman. Told over the course of one year, this visceral, and original story deftly blends investigative, psychological, and folk horror elements, realistically and compassionately addressing the complicated horror of trauma, ultimately giving agency to its victims. And then there are the ants; so many ants. Have they really infested Josie? Does it matter? The answer may lie in how much scratching the reader does throughout? For fans of titles like The Haunting of Velkwood by Kiste, The Daughters of Block Island by Carmen, or Mothered by Stage.

Note: This book came out in 2025 in England but will be released by an American publisher in January 2026. 

There Words That Describe This Book:  folk horror, trauma, investigative elements

Further Appeal: Please note that "bugs" are not in the three words. They are important but honestly, the horror here goes way deeper than the bugs. They make a great hook to draw you in though.

Other words: bugs, strong sense of place, search for justice for dead girls, immersive.

More from my notes: Solid folk horror with a strong female main character-- a woman who has lived trough trauma and is finally uncovering past memories. She is working to overcome her trauma and heal and find the justice she can. The timeline and the up and downs of this process were honest here. Josie does not wave a magic wand to have a life of trauma fixed.

There is a good investigative element as well. The folk horror festival from the town-- Ellwood-- is creepy and the story is framed around one year from the day after until it happens the next year. 

The way Amor is able to intersect the dead girls with the festival was original and horrific. It made everything more terrifying. And it was seamless. There is a twist in the investigation as to how the girls were killed that was chilling and unique. 

Oh and bug. Lots of bugs, especially ants. They are incorporated into the story but also are part of Josie-- they are the manifestation of her anxiety and trauma, but they are also the source of her strength and fearlessness. Are all of them real? Does it matter? It does not. it was a well employed and visceral narrative device that works from start to finish. Also try not to itch while reading this.

But this book is so much more than the bugs and I liked that. As a horror novel it did a great job weaving the folk horror and psychological horror subgenres but also the investigative elements were weaved in well. Speaking of, those investigative/mystery elements resolve realistically. They figure out who is responsible, but not every questions can be answered, not every dead girl found, and I liked that. 

Readalikes: I fit in a bunch above, but also A Mask of Flies by Lyons and The Queen by Cutter for the bug horror fans. And anything by Simone St. James.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Cundill History and Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Longlists

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.  

Two important longlists for our RA purposes were announced in the last few days.

First up The Cundill History Prize. From the announcement:

The jurors have chosen 15 exceptional titles to be longlisted for the 2025 Cundill History Prize.

Following in the footsteps of recent Cundill History Prize winners, Kathleen DuVal (2024) who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2025, Guardian journalist Tania Branigan (2023) and National Book Award winner Tiya Miles (2022), the fifteen longlisted authors will now be in the running for the US$75,000 prize. The Cundill History Prize is awarded annually to a book that demonstrates excellence across the prize’s guiding criteria: craft, communication, and consequence.

The books on this year’s longlist shed light on compelling stories that span continents and generations, taking us from the Haitian Revolution of the 1790s to the German Peasants’ War of 1524; from Soviet dissidents in the 1960s to American and Australian abolitionists of the 1800s.

The shortlist will be announced in early September, 2025.

Chair of the Jury Ada Ferrer, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University and a Cundill History Prize finalist in 2022, said: “As is to be expected from a Cundill History Prize book, the fifteen titles on this year’s longlist combine superb writing with rigorous and imaginative craft to tackle topics and questions of lasting, sometimes urgent significance. They range widely not only in geographic and temporal scope, but also in method: from sweeping narrative history and biography, to close reading of legal texts, photographs, and dance cards, even to a fascinating walk in a postcolonial city as means to understand an unwritten history, centuries old. The result is a list of fifteen singular books that represent the calibre and diversity of history writing today. Huge congratulations to all the historians and authors on our list.”

Ada Ferrer has been joined by leading international historians and writers Sunil Amrith, François Furstenberg, Afua Hirsch and Francesca Trivellato to complete the jury this year.

You can see the full longlist of titles here 

As you can see above, this is a history prize that values, "craft, communication, and consequence." This focus on those three pillars, especially the "communication" piece means that these 15 titles are excellent history reads for a library patron audience. History is one of the nonfiction area where we see

not in the same high numbers as things like true crime, cookbooks, or biography and memoir, but it is popular enough that we can make displays, use prize lists to build out our collections

And because these are just "History" and not a specific branch or type of history, the titles themselves represent a broad swath of excellent, vetted history writing. You can coincidently add these titles across your dewey areas and suggest them with confidence.

The Cundill Prize also has easy backlist access going back to 2008 here. Since we are talking about history books, backlist titles are less time sensitive. Dig deep into the backlist for this one because history never gets old. (pun intended)

And that backlist will help you make a display of history books. You can even use the prize's mantra as your catchy sign/title-- "History books of craft, communication, and consequence"-- that will draw readers in to see what that means. You can even put the logo for the prize on the sign. And for the online version of your display, add a link to the prize itself.

And second of the two, a prize for debuts. The Center for Fiction recently announced their longlist for the First Novel Prize. From that announcement:

We are pleased to announce the longlist for The Center for Fiction 2025 First Novel Prize. This year, we received 185 submitted titles with U.S. publication dates between January 1 and December 31, 2025. Over 300 readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, and other members of The Center’s diverse community reviewed the submissions and selected the 29 debut novels on the 2025 First Novel Prize Longlist below. 

Inaugurated in 2006, the First Novel Prize honors the best debut novel of the year and supports emerging voices in fiction. Each year, the winning author receives a $15,000 prize in recognition of their contribution to contemporary literature and in support of their ongoing creative career. Past winners of the Prize include Marisha Pessl, Junot Díaz, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Tommy Orange, Raven Leilani, and De’Shawn Charles Winslow. In the fall, our judging panel of four distinguished authors will determine the 2025 First Novel Prize Shortlist. Each shortlisted author will receive a $1,000 award. 

We are proud to share these extraordinary books with you. Please join us in congratulating The Center for Fiction 2025 First Novel Prize longlisted authors. 

The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize is supported in part by Hawthornden Foundation. For support opportunities, please reach out to Melissa Wyse and Anne Townsend at development@centerforfiction.org.

This one speaks for itself. You need to go check if you own all 29 of these novels. You probably have a lot of these, but make sure. I love how long this long list truly is. They are identifying a huge list of excellent debut novels to make sure all who deserve to be noticed in the crowded publishing landscape get their moment to shine.  

In the Fall there will be a short list narrowed down by a panel of judges, and each of those authors will get $1,000, which is important to note. Only 1 person can win the $15,000 prize, but that $1,000 for the short list authors will go a long way toward keeping them on th path to write a second book.

Also, don't forget, the easily accessed archive of every longlist and winner for the First Novel Prize is also a treasure trove of information. Obviously, you can find authors who are now bestsellers in that backlist, yes. But what about those authors whose first novel got a ton of critical acclaim but then did not make that jump to being more well known? Not making that jump does not make them less worthy of being read; in fact, that debut novel may be the hidden gem titles your patrons will love.

Great debut novels are something many readers search for, but remember, they don't have to be the debuts of right now. You can find excellent debut novels, many of which your patrons would never find without your help pointing them out through a suggestion, list, or displays.

Please use the links in the header of this post to learn more about how Awards Lists can be your best RA Tool.