07/22/2025
We’re thrilled to share that nine Penguin Random House titles have been longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
This prestigious recognition honors outstanding debut fiction—and we’re so proud of the talented authors who’ve made their mark with powerful, original storytelling.
The winner will be announced in December, and we can’t wait to cheer them on!
⭐ 185 submissions. 29 books. The Center for Fiction 2025 First Novel Prize Longlist. ⭐
Inaugurated in 2006, the First Novel Prize honors the best debut novel of the year and supports emerging voices in fiction. Our judging panel of four distinguished authors will determine the 2025 First Novel Prize Shortlist in the fall, and the winner will be announced at our Annual Awards Benefit in December. Each year, the winning author receives a $15,000 prize in recognition of their contribution to contemporary literature and in support of their ongoing creative career; each shortlisted author will receive a $1,000 award.
We’re proud to share these extraordinary books with you and hope you’ll join us in congratulating the longlisted authors! ❤️ Read more about the First Novel Prize here https://centerforfiction.org/book-recs/2025-first-novel-prize/.
📖 Good Girl by Aria Aber (Penguin Random House / Hogarth)
📖 Crown by Evanthia Bromiley (Grove Atlantic / Grove Press)
📖 We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown (Macmillan Publishers / Henry Holt)
📖 Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
📖 Pan by Michael Clune (Penguin Press)
📖 Songs of No Provenance by Lydi Conklin (Catapult)
📖 The Catch by Yrsa Daley-Ward (W. W. Norton & Company / Liveright Publishing)
📖 This Is the Only Kingdom by Jaquira Díaz (Hachette Book Group / Algonquin Books)
📖 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown Publishing)
📖 If the Dead Belong Here by Carson Faust (Viking Books)
📖 The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne (Hachette Book Group / Little, Brown and Company)
📖 Sky Daddy by Kate Folk (Random House)
📖 Circular Motion by Alex Foster (Grove Atlantic / Grove Press)
📖 Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin (Simon & Schuster / Summit Books)
📖 Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez (Random House)
📖 The Snares by Rav Grewal-Kök (Random House)
📖 Ibis by Justin Haynes (ABRAMS Books / The Overlook Press )
📖 Loca by Alejandro Heredia (Simon & Schuster)
📖 The Fantasies of Future Things by Doug Jones (Simon & Schuster)
📖 Sleep by Honor Jones (Riverhead Books)
📖 Natch by Darrell Kinsey (University of Iowa Press)
📖 Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan (Pantheon Books)
📖 Behind the Waterline by Kionna Walker LeMalle (Blair)
📖 Florenzer by Phil Melanson (Liveright Publishing)
📖 Work Nights by Erica Peplin (Gallery Books)
📖 Liquid: A Love Story by Mariam Rahmani (Hachette Book Group / Algonquin Books)
📖 North Sun by Ethan Rutherford (Deep Vellum Publishing / A Strange Object)
📖 Woodworking by Emily St. James (Zando / Crooked Media)
📖 Optional Practical Training by Shubha Sunder (Graywolf Press)