The National Book Awards were last night.
Fiction: News From Paraguay by Lily Tuck
Young People's Literature: Pete Hautman's Godless
Poetry: Jean Valentine's Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003
Non-fiction: Kevin Boyle for Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age
and Judy Blume won its annual Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
Both the NY Times and the Washington Post offer up their different perspectives on it all. It's odd, though.
Both articles bring up how unknown these authors are, including the winner. But I remember reading reviews for News of Paraguay in both the Post and the NY Times. Lily Tuck I know has been in a lot of mags, so I know her name that way as well. Seems the winner was the most well known (not that it didn't deserve it...it's supposed to be a great book). The Post mentions briefly that they're all from NY City, which is not surprising. Out of all the fiction nominees, though, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's Madeleine is Sleeping looks the most interesting to me and will probably be the only one I really seek out. I'm real happy for Judy Blume, though.
Anyway, time to go to work. I'll have a Ladybug update later in the day when I have some time.
Excelsior.
4 comments:
Washington Post's BookWorld is only available in hard copy, huh? I am thinking that I am a little bit more ot of the loop seeing how I don't read paper newspapers anymore... all online. I didn't know any of the National Book Awards authors/books till I saw the nominations,and still haven't read any of them.
Oh, to have the time.
I concur. Also, yay Judy Blume!
-L
Oh yeah -- right on, Judy Blume, she has had to contend with a lot over her career. (Hasn't "Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret" been banned over the years?)
In various states, yep. Some people don't like their kids to read about real things like death or questioning life. Eck. Don't get me started on book banning.
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