2026 Women's Prize For Fiction (shortlist)
2025 Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction (nominee)
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
"Absolutely outstanding"―ROXANE GAY
"Formidable"―THE GUARDIAN
"Bold and darkly funny"―THE SUNDAY TIMES
"Gripping"―THE TELEGRAPH
"A debut of striking authority"―THE SPECTATOR
In the town of Dominion, Mississippi, Reverend Sabre Winfrey, Jr. is more than a preacher. From his pulpit at the Seven Seals Baptist Church to the airwaves of his local radio station, he exerts influence over every aspect of society. By his side is his wife Priscilla, who types up his sermons and raises their five sons, favouring the youngest, Wonderboy.
Handsome and adored, Wonderboy is destined to carry on his father's legacy. But, after a violent altercation with a stranger, Wonderboy's actions send shockwaves through the community. Told through the perspectives of the women who love these two men, this Morrisonian, God-troubled novel illuminates the pervasive sins of the patriarchy, and the bargains women strike to survive them.
A vivid and unforgettable story that exalts the beauty and strength of Black womanhood, Dominion is the incandescent debut from one of America's most exciting writers.
A Must-read: People, Literary Hub, NPR, Vulture, The Millions, Goodreads
A Publishers Weekly Writer to Watch
Finalist for the 2026 PEN/FAULKNER Award for Fiction
Finalist for the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
Finalist for the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction
Longlisted for the Centre For Fiction First Novel Award
Genre: Literary Fiction
"Absolutely outstanding"―ROXANE GAY
"Formidable"―THE GUARDIAN
"Bold and darkly funny"―THE SUNDAY TIMES
"Gripping"―THE TELEGRAPH
"A debut of striking authority"―THE SPECTATOR
In the town of Dominion, Mississippi, Reverend Sabre Winfrey, Jr. is more than a preacher. From his pulpit at the Seven Seals Baptist Church to the airwaves of his local radio station, he exerts influence over every aspect of society. By his side is his wife Priscilla, who types up his sermons and raises their five sons, favouring the youngest, Wonderboy.
Handsome and adored, Wonderboy is destined to carry on his father's legacy. But, after a violent altercation with a stranger, Wonderboy's actions send shockwaves through the community. Told through the perspectives of the women who love these two men, this Morrisonian, God-troubled novel illuminates the pervasive sins of the patriarchy, and the bargains women strike to survive them.
A vivid and unforgettable story that exalts the beauty and strength of Black womanhood, Dominion is the incandescent debut from one of America's most exciting writers.
A Must-read: People, Literary Hub, NPR, Vulture, The Millions, Goodreads
A Publishers Weekly Writer to Watch
Finalist for the 2026 PEN/FAULKNER Award for Fiction
Finalist for the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
Finalist for the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction
Longlisted for the Centre For Fiction First Novel Award
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Looka here, Dominion is the Black-ass book we needed--from the collective storytelling to the language to the big love we have for one another. Addie E. Citchens tells stories like my aunts and uncles playing spades, toggling unexpectedly between subtlety and explosiveness, with a side of good ol' shit-talking and a deep knowing." - Steven Dunn
"A wise, sophisticated, and impressively crafted novel of secrets, longing, and strength." - Angela Flournoy
"This is one hell of a novel. Dominion is about two women who see what they want to see, until they no longer can. The storytelling is layered and beautiful and ugly at the same time, and beneath the story there is the other story about small communities and secrets and powers and how feeling like you have to live up to unspoken expectations can destroy you and everyone around you from the inside out. It captures church community and the South and the gulf between the haves and have-nots with precision and keen observations. This novel will grab you in the gut and hold you there. It's absolutely outstanding. Once I entered this world I didn't want to leave." - Roxane Gay
"This is the rarest and finest kind of storytelling, where both the tradition and innovation get plucked by the most audacious artistry I've experienced in a long, long time. You read this and see there's literally nothing narratively Addie E. Citchens can't do with her skill, her will. We have never in our reading lives experienced such an imagination, a gumption, a breathing Mississippi, and a craftsperson this locked in at this stage of her career. My god, we are lucky." - Kiese Laymon
"I loved this brilliant novel. Dominion is a must-read. Addie E. Citchens tackles misogyny with urgency, humor, authenticity, and unflinching honesty. Citchens has crafted an unforgettable work of art that exalts the beauty and strength of Black womanhood against the backdrop of the patriarchy. Thought-provoking and entertaining, this incandescent novel will stay with readers." - Annell Lopez
"It's rare that a debut author produces a work of such tenderness and ferocity, but that's what Addie E. Citchens has done in her unforgettable Dominion. Rich with metaphor and thrumming power, it tells a vivid and unforgettable story of two Mississippi Black women. If Citchens didn't exist, the South would invent her. But she does exist and our common literary soil is enriched because of it." - Maurice Carlos Ruffin
"A wise, sophisticated, and impressively crafted novel of secrets, longing, and strength." - Angela Flournoy
"This is one hell of a novel. Dominion is about two women who see what they want to see, until they no longer can. The storytelling is layered and beautiful and ugly at the same time, and beneath the story there is the other story about small communities and secrets and powers and how feeling like you have to live up to unspoken expectations can destroy you and everyone around you from the inside out. It captures church community and the South and the gulf between the haves and have-nots with precision and keen observations. This novel will grab you in the gut and hold you there. It's absolutely outstanding. Once I entered this world I didn't want to leave." - Roxane Gay
"This is the rarest and finest kind of storytelling, where both the tradition and innovation get plucked by the most audacious artistry I've experienced in a long, long time. You read this and see there's literally nothing narratively Addie E. Citchens can't do with her skill, her will. We have never in our reading lives experienced such an imagination, a gumption, a breathing Mississippi, and a craftsperson this locked in at this stage of her career. My god, we are lucky." - Kiese Laymon
"I loved this brilliant novel. Dominion is a must-read. Addie E. Citchens tackles misogyny with urgency, humor, authenticity, and unflinching honesty. Citchens has crafted an unforgettable work of art that exalts the beauty and strength of Black womanhood against the backdrop of the patriarchy. Thought-provoking and entertaining, this incandescent novel will stay with readers." - Annell Lopez
"It's rare that a debut author produces a work of such tenderness and ferocity, but that's what Addie E. Citchens has done in her unforgettable Dominion. Rich with metaphor and thrumming power, it tells a vivid and unforgettable story of two Mississippi Black women. If Citchens didn't exist, the South would invent her. But she does exist and our common literary soil is enriched because of it." - Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Visitors also looked at these books
Used availability for Addie E Citchens's Dominion