The 2014 PEN-Faulkner finalists are announced

The 2014 PEN-Faulkner Awards announced its five finalists Wednesday. Dubbing the winner “a first among equals,” prize money is awarded to all five: the winner will get $15,000 and each runner-up $5,000.

The finalists are:

“At Night We Walk in Circles” by Daniel Alarcón
“Percival Everett by Virgil Russell” by Percival Everett
“We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves” by Karen Joy Fowler
“Fools” by Joan Silber
“Search Party: Stories of Rescue” by Valerie Trueblood

As is often the case, the PEN-Faulkner Award finalists are writing fiction that is “truly innovative and surprising,” as this year’s judge Madison Smartt Bell put it. Bell and fellow judges Manuel Muñoz and Achy Obejas considered 420 novels and short story collections for the prize, submitted by 132 presses.

Previous winners of the PEN-Faulkner Award include Deborah Eisenberg, Sherman Alexie, Joseph O’Neill, Kate Christensen, Ann Patchett and Philip Roth.

This year’s winner will be announced at a ceremony in Washington on May 10. Tickets are $100.

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