Congratulations to Willy Vlautin, who has been named a winner of the Joyce Carol Oates Prize!
Named after the legendary author, the annual Joyce Carol Oates Prize honors mid-career authors of fiction who advance the vision and mission to drive social change and unleash artistic power across the generations and the nation. As part of their win, they will take up a brief residence at the University of California, Berkeley and in the Bay Area in early November 2025. In addition to Willy, Jennine Capó Crucet, author of Say Hello to My Little Friend, was named as a recipient.
The press release states that "These prizes stand not only as testament to Crucet’s and Vlautin’s impressive literary accomplishments as mid-career authors, but also as encouragement and support for work to come. Both authors represent the resilience, power, and diversity of our national communities, and both unforgettably give voice, in their resonantly distinctive styles, to the most urgent issues of today."
Find out more about the prize and read Willy's reaction to the win here.
You will also see comments from Amy Baker, Willy's Editor and VP/Associate Publisher and Editorial Director at HarperCollins, including this beautiful sentence: "Reading his work is an exercise in empathy and a lesson on how to be a better human being."
We are proud to say that we have a new book from Willy coming in April called The Left and Lucky.
Find out more about all of Willy's books here.
Congratulations, Willy!
