Percival Everett‘s James (Doubleday) won the prize for Fiction at the 75th annual National Book Awards, which took place on Wednesday night in Manhattan. “Two weeks ago I was feeling pretty low,” said Everett, adding that the awards had made him feel more hopeful. “But it’s important to remember,” he continued, “hope really is no substitute for strategy.” Everett thanked his team at Doubleday, and also his longtime editor at Graywolf, Fiona McCrae. The Nonfiction prize was awarded to Jason De León for Soldiers and Kings (Viking Books). In his speech, De León said, “I refuse to live in a world […]

One thing is clear in advance of tonight’s National Book Awards ceremony: The list of fiction nominees is the most commercial crop of titles in contention for many years. Kaveh Akbar’s MARTYR! is among the top-selling debuts of the year, with sales of approximately 46,000 hardcovers so far as measured by Circana Bookscan. That puts it well head of the hardcover sales of the last three NBA fiction winners (BLACKOUTS; THE RABBIT HUTCH; and HELL OF A BOOK). Miranda July’s breakout ALL FOURS was one of the summer’s most talked about books, and has sold just over 99,000 hardcovers. And […]