The Center for Fiction announced its 2019 First Novel Prize Longlist yesterday. The award is given to the “best debut novel published between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of the award year,” and the prize-winning author receives $10,000.
Here is the 2019 longlist (featuring many titles from our 2019 Book Preview) with bonus links when applicable:
The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero (Featured in our April Preview)
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson (Read Wilkinson’s 2018 Year in Reading)
Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Read Sudbanthad’s 2018 Year in Reading)
The Bobcat by Katherine Forbes Riley
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
The Falconer by Dana Czapnik
Fall Back Down When I Die by Joe Wilkins
The Farm by Joanne Ramos
Goodnight Stranger by Miciah Bay Gault
The History of Living Forever by Jake Wolff
In West Mills by De’Shawn Charles Winslow (Featured in our June Preview)
The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (Read our interview with Serpell)
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (Featured in two Year in Reading posts)
Oval by Elvia Wilk (Featured in our June Preview)
The Paper Wasp by Lauren Acampora
A Particular Kind of Black Man by Tope Folarin
A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar
A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian
Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman (Read an excerpt here)
Tears of the Trufflepig by Fernando A. Flores
Tinfoil Butterfly by Rachel Eve Moulton
The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin (Featured in Julia Phillips’ list of eight books set in the middle of nowhere)
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
The 2019 shortlist will be announced in September, and the winner will be announced at The Center for Fiction’s annual Benefit and Awards Dinner in December.
