US Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize 2024 shortlist announced.

Joseph Earl Thomas and Mai Sennaar are on the US Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize 2024 shortlist announced on Wednesday, October 9, 2024.

The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize is an annual award presented by The Center for Fiction, a non-profit organization in New York, USA, since 2006. It recognizes the year’s best debut novel as selected by a panel of distinguished American writers and carries an award of $15,000. Previous winners include De’Shawn Charles Winslow, Tiphanie Yanique, Junot Diaz, Margaret Wrinkle, and Raven Leilani. Noor Naga and Wole Soyinka were honoured in 2022.

The 25-book longlist from the 144 submitted titles with U.S. publication dates between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, was announced on Wednesday, July 31 while the shortlist was made public on Wednesday, October 9.

This year’s shortlist is a diverse collection of books but each has a kind of compression, emotional precision, and attention to voice that sets it apart,” said Nicole Caplain Kelly, Writing Programs Manager at The Center for Fiction. “These are urgent, ambitious works that communicate their relevance with style and clarity.”

The following writers of African descent made the list:

• They Dream in Gold, Mai Sennaar, Published by Zando / SJP Lit
• God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer, Joseph Earl Thomas, Published by Hachette Book Group / Grand Central Publishing

Responses

Incredibly honored to have made the shortlist of 7 books for the 2024 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. The award honors the best debut fiction of the year! Thank you to @center4fiction and @sjplit! ❤️

Mai Sennaar

The First Novel Prize winner will be announced at The Center’s Annual Awards Benefit on Tuesday, December 10, 2024.

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