Kingdom of No Tomorrow: Fabienne Josaphat in conversation with Barbara Kingsolver

Join us virtually for an evening celebrating Fabienne Josaphat, the winner of the 2023 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Josaphat will be in conversation with Barbara Kingsolver discussing her new novel, Kingdom of No Tomorrow (Algonquin). 

Kingdom of No Tomorrow is a novel that sheds light on the misunderstood revolutionary party of the Black Panthers, bridging the gap between Afro Caribbean and Afro American communities, and granting agency to women caught in a world of men. The novel confronts themes of racial injustice by empowering the dispossessed, and reigniting the fire of much-needed hope in these contemporary times. The New York Times describes it as, “a novel for our times, exploring how individuals in an unjust society can manage both political upheaval and meaningful personal connection, both oppression and intimacy.” 

We hope you’ll join us as we celebrate this brilliant work.

Free and open to the public with registration.

Purchase Kingdom of No Tomorrow from Fabienne’s hometown bookstore, Books & Books:

About the prize:

The PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction is a career-founding prize, which promotes fiction that addresses issues of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships. Established by Barbara Kingsolver in 2000, it is awarded biennially to the author of a previously unpublished novel of high literary caliber that exemplifies the prize’s founding principles.

The winning unpublished novel manuscript is chosen by a panel of three judges, including one editor representing Algonquin Books and two distinguished literary authors. Entries are judged blindly, to avoid any form of bias, and the identities of the authors of the submissions are not known by the judging panel until after the decision is finalized.

The author of the winning manuscript is awarded a prize of $25,000 and a publishing contract with Algonquin Books, as well as an additional publishing advance. The winning author can expect to work closely with an editor from Algonquin prior to publication, and will receive promotional support from PEN America and Algonquin.

This prize will not be conferred in the 2025 awards cycle.