Oregon’s Willy Vlautin, whose most recent novel, The Horse, tells the story of an alcoholic songwriter and the blind horse that helps him find a path out of his own darkness, is one of five finalists for the 2025 Joyce Carol Oates Prize, the sponsoring New Literary Project announced this week. The prize carries a $50,000 award and a brief fall residency at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Oates Prize has been given annually since 2017 to a mid-career fiction writer “not in recognition of a book, but for an author … of national consequence” who has published at least two notable works of fiction but has yet to receive “capstone recognition such as a Pulitzer or a MacArthur,” according to NewLit. Previous winners include Ben Fountain, Lauren Groff, and Daniel Mason.

The other 2025 finalists are: Jennine Capó Crucet of North Carolina, Sarah Manguso of California, Julia Phillips of New York, and Morgan Talty of Maine. The winner will be announced in mid-April. 

The Joyce Carol Oates Prize is named for the prolific author of more than 70 books, including novels, short stories, nonfiction, memoirs, children’s books, poetry, and literary criticism. She received the National Book Award for Fiction in 1970 for them. According to a release from the organization, Oates embodies NewLit’s “commitments to literature and literacy, arts and education, in order to enhance the lives of students, readers, and writers across generations and diverse communities.”

Vlautin, who lives in Scappoose, is the author of seven novels, has won three Oregon Book Awards, and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. A guitarist/songwriter and founder of the bands Richmond Fontaine and The Delines, he also has been inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.

In a brief interview Thursday as he was preparing to head to the Tucson Festival of Books, Vlautin called the Oates Prize recognition a “lucky break,” adding that he was grateful for anything that helps his books. “I always think of my books as little saints and pals of mine, so if it helps the books, then I’m over the moon about it.”

Thirty-two authors were longlisted for the prize in December. Among them were: Leif Enger, Miranda July, Lisa Ko, R.O. Kwon, Tommy Orange, Kimberly King Parsons, and Danzy Senna. When I noted that he beat out some big-buzz names, Vlautin again chalked it up to luck. “That stuff is luck, and so I’ll take it. It’s like when you find 100 bucks on the street, it’s a good day.  That’s what this feels like, just kind of running blindly into luck.”

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What would he do with $50,000 if he wins? “I’d probably take my lady out on the town,” he said. Then added, “I have horses, so there’s always a funnel to put money into.”

Speaking of horses, they play important roles in both The Horse and Vlautin’s 2010 novel, Lean on Pete, set on the backside of the old Portland Meadows racetrack. I asked Vlautin if horses featured in his upcoming book, The Left and the Lucky, which he said is working its way through the pipeline at Harper Collins.

The answer is no. This one, he said, is about a broken family that lives next door to a middle-aged house painter. Two boys try to befriend the painter as a father figure. “It’s a pretty simple story, but I love it,” he said. “I’ve been working on it for years, and I think I finally got it right.”