As Chair of the ISSN’s Perkins Prize committee, I have the pleasure of announcing this year’s winner.  The Perkins Prize for the book making the most significant contribution to the study of narrative in 2016 goes to:

Kent Puckett, for Narrative Theory: A Critical Introduction (Cambridge University Press).

Please join me and my fellow Perkins Prize committee-members, Porter Abbott and Sue J. Kim, in congratulating Kent for his signal achievement.

The Perkins Prize was established in honor of “the many past and continuing contributions of Barbara Perkins and George Perkins to the development and success of the Society, including the founding of both The Journal of Narrative Technique and the Society itself.” The award consists of a prize of $1000 plus a contribution of $500 toward expenses for the winning author to attend the Narrative Conference, where the award is presented.  The citation for Narrative Theory: A Critical Introduction will be read during the Awards Luncheon at the 2018 annual conference of the ISSN in Montréal, April 21, 2018.

My thanks to Porter and Sue for their scrupulous reading of a very large pile of contenders, and for the good humor of their deliberations .

Brian McHale