The Center for Fiction, founded in 1820 as the Mercantile Library, and the American Booksellers Association announced a new partnership to promote the seven shortlisted novels in the Center's annual Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. The ABA will select 450 bookstores around the U.S. focused on literary fiction to receive tabletop displays, posters and shelf talkers for the seven novels. In addition, fifty booksellers across the country will be asked to be first-tier readers for the prize.
The Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize is awarded to the best debut novel of the year. The author of the winning book receives $10,000 and the other shortlisted authors receive $1,000 each. Past winners include The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti (The Dial Press), The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Riverhead/Penguin), and Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (Viking).
