Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Shortlist

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English

By: Noor Naga
Narrated by: Amin El Gamal & Noor Naga
Length: 5 hours 7 minutes

Winner of the Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize, a lush experimental novel about love as a weapon of empire.
In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, an Egyptian American woman and a man from the village of Shobrakheit meet at a café in Cairo. He was a photographer of the revolution, but now finds himself unemployed and addicted to cocaine, living... Read more

Brown Girls

A Novel

By: Daphne Palasi Andreades
Narrated by: Tashi Thomas
Length: 4 hours 26 minutes

“A gorgeous, gratifying story, evoking a strong sense of place in the 'dregs of Queens' and told from the plural perspective of the eponymous brown girls. Disguised by the book's brevity is the impressive span of rich, lively vignettes that make up a life, cradle to grave. Particularly notable is the way Andreades rejects the idea of caricature... Read more

The School for Good Mothers

A Novel

By: Jessamine Chan
Narrated by: Catherine Ho
Length: 11 hours 56 minutes

“This book was absolutely wild. Chan really makes you examine motherhood and how subjective it can be. With her fictional school and its excessive tactics, you wonder how you can judge mothers - is it possible to learn how to be a 'good' mother and what does 'good' even mean. Every moment of this book will stress you out a little (in a good way)... Read more

NSFW

A Novel

By: Isabel Kaplan
Narrated by: Stephanie Németh-Parker
Length: 7 hours 59 minutes

“NSFW is an eye-opening commentary on sexism in the workplace. It shows the harsh realities that women not only deal with but have come to accept as a fact of life. It is raw, emotional, and at times heartbreaking with just a touch of humor thrown in for balance. Read more

Big Girl

A Novel

By: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts
Length: 12 hours 4 minutes

Exquisitely compassionate and witty, Big Girl traces the intergenerational hungers and desires of Black womanhood, as told through the unforgettable voice of Malaya Clondon.

In her highly anticipated debut novel, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan explores the perils—and undeniable beauty—of insatiable longing.

Growing up in a rapidly changing Harlem,... Read more

The Immortal King Rao

By: Vauhini Vara
Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
Length: 15 hours 2 minutes

In an Indian village in the 1950s, a precocious child is born into a family of Dalit coconut farmers. King Rao will grow up to be the most accomplished tech CEO in the world and, eventually, the leader of a global, corporate-led government.
In a future in which the world is run by the Board of Corporations, King’s daughter, Athena, reckons with... Read more