By The Associated Press on February 7, 2023.
NEW YORK (AP) – Yiyun Li’s novel “The Book of Goose” and the debut work “Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell are among 10 nominees on the long list for one of the top literary prizes, the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. The list also includes “Does My Body Offend You?”, a collaboration between Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt. “This delightfully diverse list showcases the breadth of American literature, and underscores our ongoing mission to champion fiction that matters, PEN/Faulkner Awards Committee Chair Louis Bayard said in a statement Tuesday. Nominees also include Rubén Degollado’s “The Family Izquierdo,” Jonathan Escoffery’s “”If I Survive You,” Conner Habib’s “Hawk Mountain,” Kathryn Harlan’s “Fruiting Bodies,” Dionne Irving’s “The Islands,” Meng Jin’s “Self-Portrait with Ghost” and Mat Johnson’s “Invisible Things.” Judges for the PEN/Faulkner Foundation will narrow the list to five in early March, and announce a winner in April. The winner receives $15,000 and the other four finalists $5,000 each. Previous recipients of the award, founded in 1981, include Don DeLillo, Ann Patchett and Imbolo Mbue. 5