Mark Twain American Voice In Literature Award 2022 Short List Announced

The Mark Twain House & Museum has announced the Short List of titles for The 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award! The Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award honors an exemplary work of fiction from the previous calendar year that speaks with an "American Voice" about American experiences, much like Twain's masterwork, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Sixty eligible titles published in 2021 were submitted for consideration. Each book was reviewed by multiple members of the reading committee, resulting in a Long List of fifteen incredible books announced in June 2022. Now, after careful deliberation, a select committee has further narrowed the list down to a Short List of four exceptional titles. These titles will be read by our final panel of judges who will ultimately decide the winner of the 2022 award.

The 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award Short List

Damnation Spring

by Ash Davidson

(Scribner)

A novel about love, work, and marriage that asks how far one family and one community will go to protect their future.

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev

by Dawnie Walton

(37 Ink)

A novel about the rise of an iconic interracial rock duo in the 1970s, their sensational breakup, and the dark secrets unearthed when they try to reunite decades later.

The Five Wounds

by Kirsten Valdez Quade

(W.W. Norton & Company)

A debut novel about a New Mexican family's extraordinary year of love and sacrifice.

Virtue

by Hermione Hoby

(Riverhead Books)

A novel of youth, desire, and moral conflict, in which a young man is seduced by the mirage of glamour-at terrible cost.

The winning title will be announced in October and the award, along with its $25,000 prize, will be conferred by its benefactor David Baldacci at the American Voice Award Banquet on November 4 at The Mark Twain House & Museum (details to be announced). The Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award is sponsored by David Baldacci and Bank of America.

Mark Twain House & Museum Executive Director Pieter Roos says, "We are very excited to see the number of submissions increase and the diversity of American voices represented. I would like to thank our sponsors, David Baldacci and Bank of America, the authors and publishers, and our volunteer readers for casting the net wider and ensuring that our understanding of what a truly American Voice in our literature is continues to evolve.These four selections show how varied and complex the American experience truly is."

Previous MTAVL Award recipients include Stephen Graham Jones's The Only Good Indians (2021), Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (2020), Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing (2019), Bill Beverly's Dodgers (2018), and T.C. Boyle's The Harder They Come (2017).

For more information about the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, visit MarkTwainHouse.org.

The mission of The Mark Twain House & Museum: Mark Twain changed the way the world sees America and the way Americans see themselves. We carry on this legacy to foster an appreciation of Twain as one of our nation's defining cultural figures, and to demonstrate the continuing relevance of his work, life, and times.

The Mark Twain House & Museum has restored the author's historic Hartford, Connecticut home, built in 1874, where the author and his family lived for 17 years. It was here that Twain wrote his most important works, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. In addition to providing tours of Twain's restored home, a National Historic Landmark, we offer educational and public programs that encourage critical thinking and foster literacy, humanity, and social justice.

For more information call 860-247-0998 or visit marktwainhouse.org.

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