{"id":7415,"date":"2026-09-30T19:34:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T19:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7415"},"modified":"2026-09-30T19:34:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T19:34:34","slug":"the-2026-first-novel-prize-shortlist-has-been-announced-by-the-center-for-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7415","title":{"rendered":"The 2026 First Novel Prize Shortlist Has Been Announced by the Center for Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Since 2006, the Center for Fiction has been highlighting the best debut novels of the year through its First Novel Prize<\/a>. This year\u2019s 180 eligible titles were published in the US between January 1st and December 31st, and were narrowed down to seven books by more than 500 writers, librarians, booksellers, and others. In early December, the winning author will receive $15,000, while each shortlisted author will receive $1,000.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s judges include R. O. Kwon, Kiese Laymon, Jordy Rosenberg, and Danzy Senna. <\/p>\n

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Though the shortlist cut a couple of our favorite books of the year so far,<\/a> it did retain some others. It also maintained diversity. In its titles, a thriller traverses trauma and classic literature, women create a new ethnography through communal living, and more.<\/p>\n

2026 First Novel Prize Shortlist<\/h2>\n

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A Real Animal<\/a><\/em> by Emeline Atwood <\/p>\n

Carrying<\/a><\/em> by Samantha Josephs<\/p>\n

Whidbey<\/a><\/em> by T Kira Madden <\/p>\n

Ruins, Child<\/a><\/em> by Giada Scodellaro <\/p>\n

Offseason<\/a><\/em> by Avigayl Sharp <\/p>\n

Blow Yourself Up<\/a><\/em> by Ankur Thakkar <\/p>\n

The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford<\/a><\/em> by Nafissa Thompson-Spires <\/p>\n

The shortlisted authors will read from their books on December 4, 2026, for the First Novel F\u00eate, and the winner will be announced on December 8, 2026.<\/p>\n

Keep up with all the latest book news by signing up for the\u00a0Book Riot Newsletter<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Since 2006, the Center for Fiction has been highlighting the best debut novels of the year through its First Novel Prize. This year\u2019s 180 eligible titles were published in the US between January 1st and December 31st, and were narrowed down to seven books by more than 500 writers, librarians, booksellers, and others. In early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}