Kia Corthron has won the 2016 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize for her novel, The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter (Seven Stories Press).
The annual prize includes a $10,000 cash purse which is presented to Corthron at The Center for Fiction’s Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner in New York las night. Author Viet Thanh Nguyen, last year’s winner, presented the award. Judges for prize included: Chris Abani, Kate Christensen, Rivka Galchen, Kate Walbert and Viet Thanh Nguyen.
While the title is Corthron’s first novel, she has written more than fifteen plays which have been produced around the globe. She has also written for television.
The book is the coming of age story about two brothers in the shadow of the Klan in a tiny Alabama town that takes place the night before America enters World War II.