The Center for Fiction in New York City has announced the longlist of nominees for the 2016 First Novel Prize.

Of the 25 debut novels, 15 are by women (in alphabetical order by author):

• The Girls by Emma Cline (Random House)
• The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter by Kia Corthron (Seven Stories Press)
• Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn (Liveright)
• The Lightkeepers by Abby Geni (Counterpoint)
• We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge (Algonquin Books)
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (Alfred A. Knopf)
• Another Place You’ve Never Been by Rebecca Kauffman (Soft Skull Press)
• How I Became a North Korean by Krys Lee (Viking)
• As Close to Us as Breathing by Elizabeth Poliner (Lee Boudreaux Books)
• Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss (Scout Press)
• Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves (Scribner)
• Wreck and Order by Hannah Tennant-Moore (Hogarth)
• The Longest Night by Andria Williams (Random House)
• Girl Through Glass by Sari Wilson (Harper)
• Shelter by Jung Yun (Picador USA)

According to the Center for Fiction website, “The First Novel Prize is awarded to the best debut novel published between January 1 and December 31 of the award year. The author of the winning book is awarded $10,000 and each shortlisted author receives $1,000. The winner will be announced at our Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner on Tuesday, December 6 at The Metropolitan Club.”

The shortlist of seven finalists will be announced in September.

“Previous winners include Marisha Pessl, for Special Topics in Calamity Physics (Viking), Junot Díaz, for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Riverhead/Penguin), Hannah Tinti, for The Good Thief (The Dial Press), John Pipkin, for Woodsburner (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese), Karl Marlantes, for Matterhorn (Atlantic Monthly Press with El León Literary Arts), Bonnie Nadzam, for Lamb (Other Press), Ben Fountain, for Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco/HarperCollins), Margaret Wrinkle, for Wash (Atlantic Monthly Press), Tiphanie Yanique, for Land of Love and Drowning (Riverhead Books), and Viet Thanh Nguyen, for The Sympathizer (Grove Press).”

The other ten books (by male writers) are:

• Dodgers by Bill Beverly (Crown)
• The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales (Riverhead Books)
• What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
• The Alaskan Laundry by Brendan Jones (Mariner Books)
• All Joe Knight by Kevin Morris (Grove Press)
• Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser (Ecco)
• Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings by Stephen O’Connor (Viking)
• Stork Mountain by Miroslav Penkov (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
• The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay (Melville House)
• Hurt People by Cote Smith (FSG Originals)