Just announced, the shortlist for the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, awarded by the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction. Award will be presented by last year’s winner, Junot Diaz, also winner of the NBCC award in fiction for his first novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” on December 1. Also to be honored that night: Jonathan Galassi, president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, for lifetime achievement.
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Dervishes by Beth Helms (Picador)
The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti (The Dial Press)
Personal Days by Ed Park (Random House)
Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter by Peter Manseau (Free Press)
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (Ecco/HarperCollins)
The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block (Random House)