Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Other NBA

For those of you that missed it (either in person or via the #nba10 Twitter hashtag), the 61st annual National Book Awards were presented last night in New York City. While yours truly was neither a winner (they have yet to institute a blogging category) nor an in-person attendee, I had fun following via the Interwebz and am pleased to announce this year's winners:

Lifetime achievement award: Tom Wolfe (whose speech apparently went on forever).

Young people's literature: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine (NOTE: while her writing may be superb, her website is an example of what yours should not look like). (Other finalists: Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker; Laura McNeal, Dark Water; Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown; Rita Williams-Garcia, One Crazy Summer.)

Poetry: Lighthead by Terrance Hayes. (Other finalists: Kathleen Graber, The Eternal City; James Richardson, By the Numbers; C.D. Wright, One with Others; Monica Youn, Ignatz.)

Nonfiction: Just Kids, Patti Smith. (Other finalists: Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea; John W. Dower, Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq; Justin Spring, Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward; Megan K. Stack, Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War.)

Fiction: Lord of Misrule, Jaimy Gordon. (Other finalists: Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America; Nicole Krauss, Great House; Lionel Shriver, So Much for That; Karen Tei Yamashita, I Hotel.)

Suffice it to say, I have four more books to add to the "to-read" pile, including the new Hayes (of whom I'm a big fan, & was rooting for to win—not that I didn't/don't love the other finalists). If anyone's interested, my picks were: Terrance Hayes (poetry), Barbara Demick (nonfiction), and Nicole Krauss (fiction). (I don't read enough children's literature/YA to have an informed opinion.) Congrats to all, however, winners and finalists alike!

What about you, meine Autoren? What do you think of the finalists/winners and their books?

7 comments:

  1. (NOTE: while her writing may be superb, her website is an example of what yours should not look like).

    What are you talking about? Geocities 4 LIFE!

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  2. I was rooting for Paolo, but that was probably unfair of me since I haven't read Mockingbird.

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  3. Tom Wolfe spoke for too long? Noooo way!

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  4. You should definitely, definitely read One Crazy Summer. I also enjoyed the diverse cast in Ship Breaker.

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  5. Word. Who let Erskine hire her grandpa to webdesign? Friends don't let friends use ONLY html and css. so sad so sad.

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  6. I have to say, the design of Kathryn Erskine's site may be a bit old-fashioned, but it does include: (1) contact information; (2) up-to-date event info; (3) info on her books and links to buy them; (4) info for teachers looking to book school visits. And all this info is easily located on the site. This is more than a LOT of author sites have, even super-designed fancy ones with lots of web 2.0 bells and whistles.

    So, I think that was an unfair dig. Congrats to Ms. Erskine on her win!

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