Imbolo Mbue, Percival Everett, Carolyn Ferrell, and Jocelyn Nicole Johnson are on the longlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award 2022 announced on February 1, 2022.
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, first handed out in 1981, is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year’s best works of fiction by living US American citizens. Some of the previous winners have been Imbolo Mbue in 2017 and Deesha Philyaw in 2021.
The judging panel for this year comprises Eugenia Kim, Rebecca Makkai, and Rion Amilcar Scott and they have revealed this year’s longlist.
“In this time of trouble, literature remains one of our best tools for making sense of things,” said PEN/Faulkner Awards Committee Chair, Louis Bayard. “The ten titles chosen by our judges are an important reminder of why we keep reading.”
The longlist features the following writers of African descent;
- The Trees, Percival Everett (Graywolf)
- Dear Miss Metropolitan, Carolyn Ferrell (Henry Holt)
- My Monticello, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (Henry Holt)
- How Beautiful We Were, Imbolo Mbue (Random House)
Carolyne Ferrell tweeted of the nomination, “Thank you to the judges @Eugenia_Kim , @rebeccamakkai , and @ReeAmilcarScott and thank you again to the PEN/Faulkner Foundation!”
The winner of the award will be made public at a ceremony on May 2.
