WESTPORT–And the third annual Westport Prize for Literature goes to…
The Edge of Water, the debut novel by Olufunke Grace Bankole that has been collecting accolades since its debut in February.
Bankole’s intergenerational story of a woman from Nigeria whose new life in New Orleans is upended by Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it wrought was chosen from among two other finalists for the award. The honor is given to a work of literary fiction that is “both relevant and timeless,” according to an announcement from The Westport Library.
The award, with its $10,000 prize, is scheduled to be presented to Bankole during a Nov. 6 ceremony in the library at 20 Jesup Road. The 7 p.m. event in the Trefz Forum will include a conversation between the author and Meghan O’Rourke, editor of The Yale Review. Afterward, Bankole is expected to sign copies of her novel, which will be available for purchase.
“We are thrilled that the nominating committee and judging panel have honored Grace’s skillful, mesmerizing debut novel, The Edge of Water, by naming it the winner of this year’s Westport Literary Prize,” said Molly Stern, founder and CEO of Zando, whose imprint, Tin House, published Bankole’s book. “This generous recognition of a work of uncompromising beauty is a true testament to Grace’s achievement, and to all that the Tin House list strives to represent with its publishing.”
The award was initiated in 2023, with Zadie Smith’s “The Fraud” as its first winner. Last year’s honoree, Alejandro Puyana’s “Freedom is a Feast,” was another debut novel, like Bankole’s.
The two finalists vying for the prize alongside Bankole’s novel were O Sinners! by Nicole Cuffy and Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh.
A graduate of Harvard Law School and a recipient of a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship, Bankole lives in Portland, Oregon. The Nigerian American author’s work has appeared in various literary journals, including Ploughshares, Glimmer Train Stories, AGNI, Michigan Quarterly Review, New Letters, The Antioch Review and Stand Magazine.
“The Edge of Water” has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Foreword Reviews, and Goodreads included it as a “hottest debut novel of 2025.” Kirkus Reviews called the novel a “global, multigenerational novel suffused with heart, feeling, devastation, and hope” and Pen America said it is “a provocative story of mothers, daughters, and adopted family on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Other awards include an Apple Books Best Book of 2025 and an Oprah Daily Best Book of February.
Submissions for the 2025 prize were vetted by a team of volunteer readers, numbering nearly 50. The jurors who chose the winner were playwright and author Tommy Greenwald, book blogger and aggregator Suzanne Leopold, publishing industry veteran Erica Melnichok, The Lifeboat author Charlotte Rogan and nonfiction writer and former Book of the Month Club judge Nina Sankovitch.
Find information about the Westport Prize for Literature Award Ceremony here.
The Westport Library
20 Jesup Road
Westport
203-291-4800
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