Mahreen Sohail has won the PEN/Faulkner Award, given annually to “the best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar year,” for her short story collection, Small Scale Sinners.
Sohail’s debut book, published last September by A Public Space, explores the theme of what it means to be a good person. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “Sohail writes like a pointillist paints, and her stories, while emotionally heavy, lift from the page with humor and piquant details. Many of the ‘sinners’ surely deserve a second chance in these jewel-like tales.”
The judges for the prize, Samantha Hunt, Tania James, and De’Shawn Charles Winslow, said in a statement, “In Small Scale Sinners, the magnitude of the small is roundly confirmed. This brief volume reveals the vast universes within the realm of the domestic. Sentences collect the infinite, and single lives contain multitudes. Sohail’s small scale presents our largest subjects: family, love, humor, and horror. We celebrate these beautiful stories. Their complexity and compassion challenge ideas of power by proclaiming the humane wisdom of fiction.”
Sohail said in a statement, “I wrote the stories in Small Scale Sinners over the course of a decade. With the book I was trying to map out possible ways of being an independent woman in the world. I am moved to see this book slowly find its readers, very grateful that it resonated with the judges of the PEN/Faulkner Award, and immensely honored to see it share space with such excellent writing.”
The $15,000 PEN/Faulkner Award was established in 1981. Previous winners include T.C. Boyle for World’s End, Kate Christensen for The Great Man, and Claire Jiménez for What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
