FictionPeter Matthiessen, Shadow Country (Modern Library)NonfictionAnnette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello (W.W. Norton & Company)Young People’s Literature Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic) PoetryMark Doty, Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems (HarperCollins). We started sales tracking the winners online as soon as they were announced last night. (Amazon is the first column; BN.com the second): MathiessenStart: 1,321 1,416Now: 265 92 Gordon-ReedStart: 1,100 1,282Now: 317 167 DotyStart: 51,418 38,416Now: 3,391 40,790BlundellStart: 23,200 63,008Now: 3,378 50,756Some quotes from the coverage: Gordon-Reed: “It’s sort of wonderful […]
Awards
Ricci Takes GG as Hage Is Shut Out; Costa Gives Barry Second Chance
Nino Ricci won Canada’s Governor General’s award for fiction for his just-published novel ORIGIN OF SPECIES, and journalist Christie Blatchford won the non-fiction award for her book FIFTEEN DAYS: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army. (Both titles were edited by Doubleday Canada Editorial Director Martha Kanya-Forstner.) Rawi Hage’s COCKROACH was the only work of fiction nominated for all three of Canada’s top fiction prizes, but failed to win any of the top honors. Click below for all 14 Governor General winners (with prizes for writing in both English and French).CBC In the UK, […]
Toews Wins Writers' Trust Prize
Miriam Toews has won the Rogers Writers’ Trust prize–one of Canada’s big three awards for fiction–for her fifth novel, THE FLYING TROUTMANS. CBC
2008 Man Asian Winner
Filipino author Miguel Syjuco has won the Man Asian Literary Prize for ILUSTRADO, a about “a young Filipino caught within a notorious scandal spanning over the Philippine history.” The judges said it “seems to us to possess formal ambition, linguistic inventiveness and sociopolitical insight in the most satisfying measure. Brilliantly conceived, and stylishly executed, it covers a large and tumultuous historical period with seemingly effortless skill. It is also ceaselessly entertaining, frequently raunchy, and effervescent with humor.”Prize site
Giller to Boyden
Joseph Boyden won Canada’s Giller Prize for his second novel THROUGH BLACK SPRUCE, after having been favored to win the award three years ago for his debut, THREE DAY ROAD. Juror Margaret Atwood praised the book “for its spare prose style that ranges from lyrical to brutal … and that shows us unforgettable characters and a northern landscape in a way we have never seen before.” Viking has the book scheduled for March 2009 release in the US. Mary Swan’s THE BOYS IN THE TREES had been the “overwhelming” favorite in the Guess the Giller contest, run through 30 public […]
PEN USA Award Winners
Pen USA announced their literary award winners, including: Fiction Daniel Alarcon, Lost City Radio Creative Nonfiction Julia Whitty, The Fragile Edge Research Nonfiction William Vollman, Poor People Poetry Juan Felipe Herrera, 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border Children’s Literature Ron Koertge, Strays Translation Donald Revell, A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud PEN