11 PRH Titles Longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize
The 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize longlist has been announced and includes 11 books published by Penguin Random House imprints. The twenty-seven longlisted titles were selected from 119 submissions with U.S. publication dates between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. The shortlisted titles will be announced this fall.
The First Novel Prize, first awarded in 2006, was created to honor the best debut fiction of the year. The winner receives a $15,000 prize with each shortlisted author receiving $1,000. In these particularly challenging times, the Center for Fiction is grateful to a generous donor who has made it possible to increase this year’s prize from the previous amount of $10,000 in order to be more supportive of talented emerging writers. The prize winner will be announced in December.
Our semi-finalists:
- THE ALL-NIGHT SUN by Diana Zinna (Random House)
- ANTKIND by Charlie Kaufman (Random House)
- AUGUST by Callan Wink (Random House)
- BESTIARY by K-Ming Chang (One World)
- CONJURE WOMEN by Afia Atakora (Random House)
- HOW MUCH OF THESE HILLS IS GOLD by C Pam Zhang (Riverhead)
- THE ILLNESS LESSON by Claire Beams (Doubleday)
- MEMORIAL by Bryan Washington (Riverhead)
- REAL LIFE by Brandon Taylor (Riverhead)
- TRUE STORY by Kate Reed Petty (Viking)
- UNDER THE RAINBOW by Celia Laskey (Riverhead)
Congratulations to our nominated authors, their editors and publishers.
To view the complete 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize longlist, click here.