Phil Klay’s brutal and piercing ‘Redeployment’ wins this year's Chautauqua Prize

How many awards can one grim but brilliant debut novel win?

Phil Klay’s Redeployment (reviewed in this blog on April 2), has already (quite deservedly) won the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction and the John Leonard First Book Prize. It’s been selected as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Time, Newsweek, and The Washington Post Book World. Klay was also a National Book Foundation
“5 Under 35” honoree.

Now comes news that he has also won The Chautauqua Institute’s annual prize which includes $7,500 and all travel and expenses for himself and his wife for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua in New York. He will host a public reading and a book signing on Saturday, July 25, at the Institute.

Finalists for the award included The Map Thief by Michael Blanding; Byrd by Kim Church; The Bully of Order by Brian Hart; Euphoria by Lily King; All Eyes Are Upon Us by Jason Sokol; The Scatter Here Is Too Great by Bilal Tanweer; and The Witch by Jean Thompson.