Meet the Best Debut Novelists of 2026

The Center for Fiction, an organization focused on literature, announced a shortlist for its annual First Novel Prize in September 2026. The prize is judged by a panel including R. O. Kwon, Kiese Laymon, Jordy Rosenberg, and Danzy Senna. Each finalist receives $1,000, while the winner, to be announced in December 2026, will receive $15,000. This award recognizes contributions to contemporary literature and supports the winner’s ongoing creative career. Literary Hub interviewed the finalists about their writing and reading habits as part of the prize process.

Emeline Atwood, author of A Real Animal, describes her writing routine as challenging due to early mornings. She typically writes best at 6 AM but has struggled with waking up recently. To adapt, she uses small steps, like staying awake after her chihuahua Crackers goes outside to pee. She also uses caffeine patches and watches sunrise drives to reconnect with early hours, which she finds rich for creativity. Her family, including her parents who read aloud to her until middle school, significantly influenced her love for literature. She believes being a good writer requires being a good reader and engaging in imaginative play.

Atwood suggests using daydreams or nightmares to overcome writer’s block by writing what you wish had happened or fear might happen. She also recommends inviting someone unfamiliar to a familiar place to experience it anew through their perspective. Another technique is reading a passage, memorizing it, transcribing it, and then rewriting it with the same structure but different words before tearing it up and taking a walk. She cites advice from Ira Glass, who emphasizes that creative work improves over time as creators produce more work, and Ursula K. Le Guin, who warns against ignoring unseen forces like dragons.

Atwood’s first book love was a nonfiction book about fox families in her elementary school library, which she hid to keep others from checking it out. She also admired Robert Frost’s poetry for its end rhymes. She rereads books like Chekhov’s collected stories, Murakami’s The Elephant Vanishes, and Diane Seuss’s Frank to deepen her understanding. Her procrastination involves meeting friends at a coffee shop to write, though they often end up talking instead. As a child, she was terrified by Wherever Nina Lies, a book she read at age 13.

Atwood critiques modern technology’s push for touchless experiences, arguing that friction is necessary for human connection. She believes reducing interactions to taps distances people from the consequences of their actions, making it easier to dehumanize others. She also discusses the concept of likability in characters, suggesting it reflects biases about what is familiar or relatable. She prefers characters who repulse readers over those who bore them, as friction indicates engagement. Atwood hopes readers see her characters as reflections of human complexity, including messiness and hidden desires.

Samantha Josephs, author of Carrying, works a nine-to-five marketing job at a software company, which she considers her career despite writing being her vocation. She has considered careers in medicine or couples therapy and hopes to teach literature in the future. Josephs is excited for trans women to connect with her book and also enjoys imagining older women reading it. She is not a morning person and typically writes from noon to 6 PM, with occasional late-night sessions. Her writing routine includes a technique called RUTABAGA, where she marks gaps in her draft with the word RUTABAGA and fills them in later.