MLA Prize for a First Book
Competition in 2024 for Books Published in 2023
Open Only to Members of the Association
The Committee on Honors and Awards of the Modern Language Association invites authors to compete for the thirty-first annual MLA Prize for a First Book, which will be awarded for an outstanding scholarly work published in 2023 as the first book-length publication by a current member of the association. To qualify for the prize, a book must be a literary or linguistic study or a critical biography. Studies dealing with literary theory, media, cultural history, and interdisciplinary topics are eligible; books that are primarily translations will not be considered. The prize, which consists of a cash award and a certificate, will be presented to the winning author at the association's annual convention in January 2025.
Authors or publishers who wish to submit a work are asked to fill out a submission form.
- If you are an author submitting a work, please use this form.
- If you are a publisher submitting a work, please use this form.
Publishers may enter more than one title. Books entered in this competition may also compete for one other prize that is not the James Russell Lowell Prize or the MLA Prize for an Edited Collection, provided they meet eligibility requirements. Entries may be sent at any time but must be received by 1 March 2024. The winning author will be contacted in September, and a public announcement will be made in early December. Because of the volume of submissions, we regret that we are unable to contact each entrant individually.
For further information, write the coordinator of book prizes (awards@mla.org).
Past winners of this prize