The Washington Post has a good roundup of all the books that were recognized by the Pulitzer judges yesterday. Also, it turns out that Franz Wright, who received the poetry Pulitzer yesterday, is the son of the late poet James Arlington Wright, who won the Pulitzer in 1972 for his Collected Poems.
Pulitzer Followup
IMPAC Offers Up Eclectic Shortlist for 2008 Award
The IMPAC Award is one of the more interesting prizes we cover. Its longlist is composed of nominations from dozens of libraries around the world. The upside is that the books are an typically an eclectic bunch (especially in the very long longlist) and that they represent the choices of a very different group from the cadre of critics and literary luminaries that usually decide awards. The downside is that thanks to the award’s arduous process, it is several months behind other prizes in recognizing books. For example, the 2008 award is made up of books published in English in 2006.Tardiness aside, the IMPAC is typically interesting, and this year’s recently unveiled shortlist is no exception. In fact, unlike last year when some quite well-known books made the cut (and Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses took home the prize) this year’s list is devoid of household names and has no overlap with any of the “major” book prize shortlists. Here are the shortlisted books:The Speed of Light by Javier Cercas (at the Complete Review)The Sweet and Simple Kind by Yasmine Gooneratne (interview)De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage (Andrew’s review)Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones (review in The Guardian)Let it be Morning by Sayed Kashua (review in the Boston Review)The Attack by Yasmina Khadra (excerpt, at the Complete Review)Winterwood by Patrick McCabe (review in The Guardian)The Woman who Waited by Andrei Makine (review in the New York Times)
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The Booker’s Dozen: The 2011 Booker Longlist
With the unveiling of the Booker Prize longlist, the 2011 literary Prize season is officially underway. As is usually the case, the list offers a mix of exciting new names, relative unknowns and beloved standbys. The lone past winner (for The Line of Beauty) is Alan Hollinghurst, and longlisters Sebastian Barry and Julian Barnes have gotten shortlist nods in the past. At the other end of the experience specturm, four debut novelists make the list: Stephen Kelman, A.D. Miller, Yvvette Edwards, and Patrick McGuinness.
All the Booker Prize longlisters are below (with excerpts where available):
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (excerpt)
On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry (excerpt [pdf])
Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch (excerpt)
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (excerpt)
Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards
The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst (excerpt)
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman (excerpt)
The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness
Snowdrops by A.D. Miller (Staff Pick)
Far to Go by Alison Pick
The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers
Derby Day by D.J. Taylor
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McCann Wins National Book Award
The National Book Award winners for 2009 have been announced. The big prize for fiction went to Colum McCann for Let the Great World Spin. McCann was the highest profile name among the nominees, and his book which revolves around Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk between World Trade Center towers in 1974, was generally seen as the favorite. More on the book: excerpt, review, Most Anticipated.
In this age of tycoons, fallen and otherwise, it is perhaps fitting that the non-fiction award went to The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles (excerpt). The Poetry award was won by Keith Waldrop for Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy (excerpt [pdf]). The winner in the Young People’s Literature category was Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose, a true story about a teenager who played a pivotal, but now forgotten role in the civil rights movement (excerpt).
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Richard Flanagan Wins the 2014 Man Booker Prize
Australian novelist Richard Flanagan has won this year’s Man Booker Prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. The book begins:
Why at the beginning of things is there always light? Dorrigo Evans’ earliest memories were of sun flooding a church hall in which he sat with his mother and grandmother. A wooden church hall. Blinding light and him toddling back and forth, in and out of its transcendent welcome, into the arms of women. Women who loved him. Like entering the sea and returning to the beach. Over and over.
The book is the story of an Australian prisoner of war, among more than 9,000 who were forced to build a railway through Burma and Thailand. Michael Gorra for the New York Times Book Review drew comparisons to Conrad and Zola and called it formally demanding but also “carefully and beautifully constructed.”
Revisit this year’s Booker Shortlist.
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