Last night, on the eve of the 2014 Literary Awards Ceremony, finalists for the 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction gathered in a packed East Village bar to read aloud from their nominated works. You can listen to an audio recording of each reading here.
The PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize honors an exceptionally talented fiction writer whose debut work—a novel or collection of short stories—represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise. The winner will be announced live tonight at PEN’s 2014 Literary Awards Ceremony in New York City by Louise Erdich, who is receiving the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction.
Finalist Anthony Marra read from his debut novel A Constellation of Vital Phenomena; Saïd Sayrafiezadeh read from his collection Brief Encounters With the Enemy; Ian Stansel read a short story from Everybody’s Irish; Shawn Vestal read from the title story of Godforsaken Idaho; and Katie Kitamura read a selection from Hanya Yanagihara’s The People In the Trees.
Congratulations to all the finalists.
