James McBride, Jamel Brinkley among authors on PEN/Faulkner award longlist

McBride’s “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” and Brinkley’s “Witness” are nominated

NEW YORK (AP) — Novels by James McBride and Alice McDermott and a short story collection by Jamel Brinkley are among the 10 books on the longlist for one of the literary world’s top prizes, the PEN/Faulkner award for fiction.

The settings for nominated books range from a 1930s Pennsylvania community in McBride’s “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” to 1960s Saigon in McDermott’s “Absolution.” The list also includes, Brinkley’s “Witness,” Catherine Lacey’s “Biography of X,” Emma Cline’s “The Guest,” Daniel Clowes’ “Monica” and Claire Jiménez’s “What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez.”

The other nominees are Henry Hoke’s “Open Throat,” Nishanth Injam’s “The Best Possible Experience” and Colin Winnette’s “Users.”

“This year’s list is a powerful reminder that American literature matters more than ever,” awards committee chair Louis Bayard said in a statement Tuesday. “We are delighted to celebrate these gifted authors and the multivarious worlds they have brought to life.”

The list will be pared to five finalists next month, with the winner to be announced in April. Previous PEN/Faulkner winners include Philip Roth, Ann Patchett and Imbolo Mbue,

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