We proudly announce the Finalists for the 2023 JCO Prize, listed here with their most recent books:

Rabih Alameddine, The Wrong End of the Telescope (Grove Atlantic) 

Clare Beams, The Illness Lesson (Doubleday)

James Hannaham, Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta (Little, Brown)

David Means, Two Nurses, Smoking (FSG)

Manuel Muñoz, The Consequences (Graywolf)

To date, over the last seven years, we have longlisted 270 authors, from 48 publishing houses, naming 35 finalists and six Prize Recipients so far. Read more about the Finalists by plugging in to NewLit’s social media platforms, and welcome our next batch of esteemed authors. Their headshots, from left to right above, show the luminary faces of Rabih, Clare, James, David, and Manuel.

The Joyce Carol Oates Prize annually honors a midcareer fiction writer who has earned a distinguished reputation and the approbation and gratitude of readers. This prize is awarded not in recognition of a book, but for an author: an already emerged and still emerging author of national consequence—short stories and/or novels—at the relatively middle stage of a burgeoning career. By midcareer we mean an author who has published at least two notable books of fiction, and who has yet to receive capstone recognition such as a Pulitzer or a MacArthur. Otherwise, there are no age, geographic, or stylistic restrictions. The winner receives a $50,000 award to encourage and support forthcoming work. The Prize is a working prize, in the sense that each year the winner is in brief Fall residence (7-10 days) at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Bay Area, where they may give public readings and talks, teach classes, and make appearances.

2017 Prize Winner T. Geronimo Johnson
2018 Prize Winner Anthony Marra

2019 Prize Winner Laila Lalami

2020 Prize Winner Daniel Mason

2021 Prize Winner Danielle Evans

2022 Prize Winner Lauren Groff

2023 Prize Winner [to be determined April 2023]

In Spring 2023, seven NewLit workshops are taking place, delivering arts education to more than one-hundred young people. In addition to the two at Emery High School, five Simpson Workshops are taught by Simpson Fellows from the Berkeley English Department: Contra Costa Juvenile Hall, Girls Inc Alameda County (2), CalPrep, and Northgate High School.

Introducing our inaugural Iris Starn Fellows—distinguished teachers and writers who are MFA candidates in creative writing at St. Mary’s College of California. These two esteemed writers will be teaching creative writing workshops, free of charge, at Emery High, the public high school in Emeryville, California, thanks to the generous, sustaining support of the Starn Family in collaboration with New Literary Project.

When asked what their favorite habits are for holding their creative practice at a daily rigor, they responded: