2026 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel

The 2026 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel went to Virginia Evans for The Correspondent, published by Crown, a novel told largely through the letters a woman writes as she looks back on her life. Judges Rachel Beanland, Dionne Irving and Taymour Soomro chose it from 146 eligible debut novels by American authors published in 2025. The other finalists were Susanna Kwan for Awake in the Floating City and Maggie Su for Blob. The PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced the winner on March 16, 2026. Evans received $10,000, and all three finalists were honored on April 26 at the award's 50th anniversary ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, along with residencies at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming.