"The Secret Lives of Church Ladies" wins another award

If you were looking for a sign about whether to read The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, here it is.

Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection has just been announced as the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winner.

That’s in addition to its 2020 Story Prize victory, its National Book Award finalist nod, and its ongoing consideration for a Los Angeles Times Book Award.

The Faulkner judges said, in a statement shared by Publishers Weekly, that “Philyaw gives us that rarest and most joyful fusion — a book that combines the curious agility of the best short fiction with the deep emotional coherence of a great novel."

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