Emory Professor Tayari Jones Wins the 2026 Kirkus Prize for Fiction and $50,000 for Her Novel Kin
Tayari Jones, the Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University, has won the 2026 Kirkus Prize for Fiction for her novel 'Kin,' theGrio reported Oct. 9, citing Emory University and the Associated Press. The prize carries a $50,000 cash award, and winners were announced Oct. 7 at a ceremony in New York City. 'Kin,' set in rural Louisiana and Atlanta in the mid-20th century, was also the first Oprah's Book Club selection of 2026.
Why It Matters for Atlanta Professionals
A novel partly set in Atlanta, written by an Atlanta professor, just won a major national prize: a point of pride for the city's creative and academic community.
Source
First reported by Emory University and the Associated Press, per theGrio: theGrio report
Photo: David Shankbone / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
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