2026 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

The 2026 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction went to Mahreen Sohail for Small Scale Sinners, a collection of short stories published by A Public Space that she wrote over about a decade. Judges Samantha Hunt, Tania James and De'Shawn Charles Winslow chose it from 387 novels and story collections by American authors published in 2025. The four other finalists were Addie E. Citchens for Dominion, Quiara Alegría Hudes for The White Hot, Jonas Hassen Khemiri for The Sisters and Lily King for Heart the Lover. The foundation announced the winner on April 6, 2026. Sohail received $15,000 and each of the other finalists $5,000, and all five authors were honored at a May ceremony in Washington.