CMEDIA: Ann Patchett would be honored with the 2026 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction at the National Book Festival on Aug. 22, the Library of Congress has announced.
“The Library of Congress is one of our nation’s noblest institutions, and it’s full of librarians, who I consider to be the very noblest of people. I am grateful for this award and honored by the association,” Patchett has said.
The award seeks to recognize strong, unique, enduring voices that, throughout long and consistently accomplished careers, have told us something about the American experience.
“Ann Patchett crafts moving, probing, tender novels. She has a talent for creating fiction that readers continually devour because she thinks deeply and writes evocatively about human connection,” Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen has said. “I am thrilled that she is the 2026 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction recipient.”
Honoring an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished by its mastery of the art, as well as its originality of thought and imagination, the annual Prize for American Fiction is one of the Library’s most prestigious awards.
Named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, she received the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contributions to American culture.
Recipient of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the United Kingdom’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, and, most recently, the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, among other honors, Patchett is the author of 10 novels, including “The Dutch House” (Pulitzer Prize finalist), “The Patron Saint of Liars,” “Bel Canto,” “Commonwealth” and “Taft,” as well as nonfiction and children’s books.
Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages.
Patchett opened Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee nearly 15 years ago and has since become an advocate for independent booksellers, championing books and bookstores.
Having been the inaugural ambassador for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, Patchett founded the Parnassus Books Foundation, which gives books to children in Title I schools in Nashville.
Her latest book, “Whistler,” most recently the New York Times No. 1 bestseller, was discussed by Patchett at the 2026 National Book Festival. The novel tells the story of a chance reunion of a grown daughter and her long-lost former stepfather whom she knew briefly during her childhood. Despite the many years that have passed, their indelible bond is evident as they revisit and reflect on the unique trajectories of their lives, revealing the transformative power of reconnection.
Some past winners of this prize include James McBride (2024), Jesmyn Ward (2022) and E. Annie Proulx (2018). For more information on the prize, including all previous winners, visit https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/prizes/fiction-prize/.
About the 2026 National Book Festival
One of the nation’s most prestigious literary events, The Library of Congress National Book Festival returns on Saturday, Aug. 22, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C is free and open to the public.
Besides conversations with authors, poets and illustrators whose literary genres range from fiction to nonfiction, picture book to biography, poetry to young adult, and more, the festival will offer activities and programs for families and book lovers of all ages.
Part of the Library’s celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial, America 250: It’s Your Story, the 2026 Library of Congress National Book Festival this year, the Library will feature an expansion of programming to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary and to showcase the Library’s offerings beyond books to include film, music, veterans’ history and American folklife.
Updates on plans for the National Book Festival will be shared at loc.gov/bookfest.
The generous support of private- and public-sector sponsors who share the Library’s commitment to reading and literacy, led by National Book Festival Co-Chair David M. Rubenstein has made the National Book Festival possible.
