Two PRH Novels Selected as PEN/Hemingway Award Finalists
We’re proud to share that two Penguin Random House novels have been named finalists for this year’s PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel: THE CORRESPONDENT (Crown) by Virginia Evans and AWAKE IN THE FLOATING CITY (Pantheon) by Susanna Kwan.
Selected by judges Rachel Beanland, Dionne Irving, and Taymour Soomro, this year’s finalists were chosen from 146 eligible novels by American authors published in the United States during the 2025 calendar year. Since 1976, the PEN/Hemingway Award has honored a debut novel of exceptional merit by an author who has not previously published a full-length work of fiction. The purpose of the award is to champion new voices of promise entering the literary landscape.
In a joint statement, the judges shared: “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 will receive $10,000 and will be announced in early April. All three finalists will be honored on April 26 at the 50th Anniversary PEN/Hemingway Award Ceremony, held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. They will also receive a two-week residency at Ucross Foundation, including a private studio space, living accommodations, meals prepared by a professional chef, and staff support on the foundation’s 20,000-acre ranch in northern Wyoming.
Our PEN/Hemingway Award Finalists
Discover the word-of-mouth hit hailed by Ann Patchett as “A cause for celebration”—an intimate novel about the transformative power of the written word and the beauty of slowing down to reconnect with the people we love.
“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle. . . . Isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”
Filled with knowledge that only comes from a life fully lived, The Correspondent is a gem of a novel about the power of finding solace in literature and connection with people we might never meet in person. It is about the hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age, and the mistakes and acts of kindness that occur during a lifetime.
An utterly transporting debut novel about the unexpected relationship between an artist and the 130-year-old woman she cares for—two of the last people living in a flooded San Francisco of the future, the home neither is ready to leave.
Bo knows she should go. Years of rain have drowned the city and almost everyone else has fled. Her mother was carried away in a storm surge and ever since, Bo has been alone. She is stalled: an artist unable to make art, a daughter unable to give up the hope that her mother may still be alive. Half-heartedly, she allows her cousin to plan for her escape—but as the departure day approaches, she finds a note slipped under her door from Mia, an elderly woman who lives in her building and wants to hire Bo to be her caregiver. Suddenly, Bo has a reason to stay.
Congratulations to our authors and teams on this exciting recognition!