PEN American Center is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2014 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. The award, which was established in 2000 by Barbara Kingsolver and is funded entirely by her, is presented biennially to the author of a previously unpublished novel of high literary caliber that promotes fiction that addresses issues of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships. This is the second year in which PEN is administering this award. The winner, chosen by judges Terry McMillan, Nancy Pearl, and Kathy Pories, will be announced later this summer and will be honored at the 2014 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony in New York City on September 29th. The $25,000 prize includes a book contract with Algonquin Books. Congratulations to all the finalists:
Carolyn Alessio for El Favorito
Kirsten Alexander for Everything You Want
Ron Childress for And West is West
Annette Clapsaddle for Going to Water
Mary Flodin for Fruit of the Devil
Maggie Harrison for Molehills of Mississippi: A Novel of Grace in an Age of Terror
Keith Rosenberger for Sing Like the Gutter, Dance Like a Stone
Katherine Seligman for No More Than You Can Bear
Jyotsna Sreenivasan for On the Brink of Bloom
Julia Stoops for Parts Per Million
