The shortlist has been selected for the $5,000 2027 Crook's Corner Book Prize, recognizing "the best debut novel set in the American South." The winner will be announced in January.
The longlist:
The Resettlement of Vesta Blonik by Denise Smith Cline (Regal House Publishing)
God Is Harder on Girls by Ella Dodson (Chapel Hill Press)
This Here Is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry (W. W. Norton)
The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster)