Booksology Finalists for the 2025 Penn/Faulkner Awards have been announced. The award honors the finest fiction by permanent American residents within the calendar year. In the 45th iteration of the award, three writers (Bruce Holsinger, Desha Filiyo and Louis Alberto Urleair) were chosen to serve as judges. They have pushed potential award winners down to a list of 10 books, and now they have shortened the list to five more books. Finally, at the ceremony on May 15, 2025, they announce the winners they consider to be “the first of equality.”
Below are five finalists.
Pemi Aguda’s Ghostoots
Behind you is the ocean by Susan Muadi Dharaj
James by Percival Everett
Small rain by Garth Greenwell
Colored TV by Danzy Senna
The 45th Annual Penn/Faulkner Award celebration will be held on May 15th this year at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC. Presentations will be made by Pen/Faulkner judges, original readings by winners and finalists, and celebrations for this year’s Pen/Faulkner Literary Champion, Dr. Carla Hayden.
Award winners will receive $15,000, while each finalist will receive $5,000.
For more information about finalists and awards, see Pen/Faulkner.
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