NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Claire Jim茅nez鈥檚 鈥淲hat Happened to Ruthy Ramirez,鈥� a hard-hitting and comic novel set in New York City about a Puerto Rican family's search for a missing girl, has won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
The award, announced Tuesday, includes a $15,000 cash prize.
鈥淐laire Jim茅nez has crafted a visceral work of art full of nuance, humor, and humanity, through incisive and loving character work, the finely calibrated unspooling of narrative, and the exquisite deployment of language, ranging from poetic prose to Spanglish to the sociolect of working-class Staten Island,鈥� according to a statement by the prize judges.
The four other finalists 鈥� Jamel Brinkley for 鈥淲itness,鈥� Henry Hoke for 鈥淥pen Throat,鈥� Alice McDermott for 鈥淎bsolution鈥� and Colin Winnette for 鈥淯sers鈥� 鈥� will each receive $5,000.
Previous winners of the PEN/Faulkner award include Philip Roth, Ann Patchett and Deesha Philyaw.
The Associated Press
