PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction · 2025 · Winner
Small Rain
Garth GreenwellSmall Rain by Garth Greenwell won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2025.
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
2025 Winner
2025 Shortlist & Longlist
Shortlist
Complete History
2020s
About the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is one of the most respected literary prizes in the United States, awarded annually to the best work of fiction by an American citizen published during the prior calendar year. Founded in 1981 by a group of writers including members of PEN America, the award was established to honour William Faulkner's legacy—the prize money is seeded in part from the Nobel Prize funds Faulkner directed toward supporting younger American writers. The award is administered by PEN/Faulkner Foundation and judged each year by three fiction writers chosen from the American literary community. A shortlist of five finalists is announced each spring, with the winner receiving $15,000 and each finalist receiving $5,000. The prize is unusual in that it is judged entirely by working writers, a structure intended to ensure that the selection reflects the values of the literary craft community. Past winners include an extraordinary array of American fiction: Philip Roth, Don DeLillo, John Edgar Wideman, Alice Walker, Joyce Carol Oates, Ha Jin, Michael Cunningham, and, in more recent years, Joan Silber, Deesha Philyaw, Yiyun Li, and Garth Greenwell. The PEN/Faulkner Award often recognises ambitious, formally inventive fiction that might be overlooked by more commercially oriented prizes, making it a reliable guide to the most artistically significant American fiction of the year. The award ceremony is held in Washington, D.C., at the Folger Shakespeare Library, adding a distinctive cultural gravitas to the proceedings.
Frequently Asked Questions
- The award is open to works of fiction—novels, novellas, or short story collections—published in the United States during the calendar year. The author must be an American citizen.
- Three fiction writers serve as judges each year. They read all submitted titles, select five finalists, and choose one winner by consensus. Judges are themselves accomplished American fiction writers.
- The winner receives $15,000. Each of the four finalists receives $5,000. These are among the largest cash awards for American literary fiction.
- The award is named in part for William Faulkner, who used funds from his 1950 Nobel Prize to establish a trust supporting emerging writers. PEN America administers the prize.
- The ceremony takes place at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., typically in the spring.
- Yes. Short story collections are eligible alongside novels and novellas. Several collections have won the prize, including Deesha Philyaw's The Secret Lives of Church Ladies in 2021.
- Its defining feature is that it is judged exclusively by working writers, not critics or academics, which tends to produce selections that prioritise literary craft and innovation. It also provides substantial cash prizes to all finalists, not just the winner.