Mahreen Sohail wins 2026 PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction

“With sharp and striking prose, Small Scale Sinners performs the magical feat of encompassing every aspect of humanity.” (Lauren Francis-Sharma, PEN/Faulkner Awards Committee chair)

We are thrilled to share that Small Scale Sinners by Mahreen Sohail is the winner of the 2026 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Mahreen Sohail was one of three inaugural APS Writing Fellows back in 2014, and we are so proud to have accompanied her on her journey from then until now, and into the future.

Electric, tender, and haunting, Mahreen’s writing does the astounding job of capturing the unfathomable magnitudes of human complexity through the lives of women and girls, daughters and mothers, all of whom must navigate lives full of longing, deception, and quiet danger.

Congratulations once again, Mahreen.

Small Scale Sinners is available for sale wherever books are sold. Order your copy here.