Flaherty-Dunnan

The Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, sponosored by The Center for Fiction, is awarded to the best debut novel of the year. The Prize was originally established in 2005 as the John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize. The Center for Fiction board member and well-known non-fiction author, Nancy Dunnan, now funds The Center’s First Novel Prize. It is officially called the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, named after Nancy’s journalist father, Ray W. Flaherty (description from The Center of Fiction.)

2012 Winner

• Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (4 stars)

2012 Short List

• Absolution by Patrick Flanery
• Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
• The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
• Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman
• Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
• The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (4.5 stars)

2011 Winner

• Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam

2011 Short List

• Caribou Island by David Vann
• Daughters of the Revolution by Carolyn Cooke
• The History of History by Ida Hattemer-Higgins
• Shards by Ismet Prcic
• The Sweet Relief of Missing Children by Sarah Braunstein (5 stars)
• Touch by Alexi Zentner

2010 Winner

• Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

2010 Short List

• Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste
• The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (4.5 stars)
• Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross
• The Quickening by Michelle Hoover (4 stars)
• The Report by Jessica Francis Kane
• This Is Just Exactly Like You by Drew Perry Viking

2009 Winner

• Woodsburner by John Pipkin

2009 Short List

• American Rust by Philipp Meyer
• The Cradle by Patrick Somerville
• Tinkers by Paul Harding (4.5 stars)
• The Vagrants by Yiyun Li

2008 Winner

• The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

2008 Short List

• The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block
• Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
• Dervishes by Beth Helms
• Songs for the Butcher's Daughter by Peter Manseau
• Personal Days by Ed Park
• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (5 stars)

Before 2008, the Flaherty-Dunnan Prize was known as The John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize

2007 Winner

• The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (4 stars)

2007 Short List

• Bearing the Body by Ehud Havazelet
• Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski
• Finn by Jon Clinch
• Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon
• The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander
• Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

2006 Winner

• Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

2006 Short List

• The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo by Peter Orner
• The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger
• Cellophane by Marie Arana
• Send Me by Patrick Ryan