Friday, November 20, 2009

National Book Awards 2009


Wednesday night, the National Book Foundation announced this year's winners:

Fiction: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

Nonfiction: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, TJ. Stiles

Poetry: Transcedental Studies: A Trilogy, Keith Waldrop

Young people's literature: Claudette Colvin, Phillip Hoose.


Additionally, Flannery O'Connor's The Complete Stories was named Best of the National Book Awards Fiction. I'm really glad because that's the book I voted for. (And, yes, I know that sentence ends in a preposition, but consider the alternative: " . . . because that's the book for which I voted." Hmmm. I don't think so. It's like the Winston Churchill quote: "That is something up with which I will not put.)

1 comment:

Ian said...

Good for Flannery! (I've studied her in enough classes that I feel like we're on a first name basis.)

In addition to the awards you listed, Dave Eggers won The Literarian Award which I think he very much deserved. McSweeney's is an excellent publication and it would seem that he's doing more for contemporary lit. than anyone else. Good for Dave.