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Who Will Win the Big Awards? Scanning the Blogs
Ah, January 2010. New year, new decade—and the last chance to lay odds on which books from 2009 will be slapped with the gold and silver seals that come with the annual awarding of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, the Printz Award, and all the other prestigious prizes handed out by the ALA's ASLC and YALSA divisions next Monday. A tour of various book- and librarian-centric Web sites, blogs and listservs turns up countless confident souls eager to champion their favorite titles...
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NY Center for Independent Publishing Honors Epstein
The New York Center for Independent Publishing will honor Jason Epstein with its Poor Richard Award on January 21. Epstein, who created Anchor Books in 1952, helped establish the trade paperback format, cofounded the New York Review of Books, created the Library of America, and served as editorial director of Random House, most recently published Eating: A Memoir in October 2009.
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Random Pushes Up Paperback Release of NBA-Winning 'Great World'
Random House has pushed up the paperback publication of last week’s National Book Award winner for fiction, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. The trade paperback edition was originally slated for next spring but will now go on sale December 4 with a 100,000-copy first printing.
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The 2009 National Book Awards
The 2009 National Book Awards ceremony returned to Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan November 18 for the second year, and the place is starting to feel like home. While there was talk of e-books, war and recession, having the inimitable Gore Vidal on hand—he won a National Book Award for nonfiction in 1993—to receive this year's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to Ameri...
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Hoose Wins NBA in Young People's Literature
The National Book Award for Young People's Literature was given Wednesday night to Phillip Hoose, for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (FSG/Kroupa), a true-life account of the 15-year-old African-American girl who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in March 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks. Hoose walked to the podium with Colvin, and in accepting his medal, called the honor "unreal." He began by thanking his "brilliant" editor, Melanie Kroupa...
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Colum McCann, Phillip Hoose Among National Book Award Winners
Novelist Colum McCann won the 2009 National Book Award for Fiction for his novel Let the Great World Spin (Random House); Gore Vidal (awarded the medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters) was rambling, witty and profound as he recounted his life; and master of ceremonies, humorist Andy Borowitz, sent everyone home at 10:45 p.m. with a crack about Sarah Palin’s new memoir, Going Rogue, being an early candidate for the 2010 NBA fiction prize.
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Five Authors (and a Surprise Guest) at the NBA Teen Press Conference
During his introductory speech at the 12th annual National Book Foundation's Teen Press Conference, held this past Tuesday, host Jon Scieszka noted that the "crazy collection of writers and illustrators" that make up this year's National Book Award finalists in the Young People's Literature category offered "absolutely something for everyone"; be it social activism, history, or "lots of kissing."
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Veteran Journalist Wins Canada’s Giller Prize
This year’s winner of the richest prize for fiction in Canada, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, is veteran journalist and author Linden MacIntyre for his second novel The Bishop’s Man published by Random House Canada.
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Best Books of 2009
It's almost Thanksgiving, which is the beginning of the end of another year, and for us at PW that means our annual best books list. From more than 50,000 volumes, we valiantly set out to choose 100, and this year we've upped the ante with a top 10 list.
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Wayne State in Fourth Printing for NBA Finalist 'American Salvage'
When the National Book Award finalists were announced last Wednesday, Wayne State University Press was the only small publisher represented in the fiction category, with Bonnie Jo Campbell's American Salvage. It also marked the first time one of the press’ authors was nominated for the award.
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YA or Not YA?: 'Stitches' Gets NBA Nomination
On Wednesday, Caldecott Medalist David Small’s graphic novel-style memoir, Stitches, became a 2009 National Book Award finalist in the Young People’s Literature category—which has led to some discussion and debate, along with the usual congratulations.
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National Book Award Finalists Announced
The National Book Foundation has announced the finalists for the 2009 National Book Awards. One debut fiction writer made the list, as well as three previous NBA finalists and the second graphic novel in the Awards’ history. Farrar, Straus & Giroux landed three nominations and Holt two giving Macmillan five nominees. Random House has three finalists, one from Little Random and two from Knopf; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Norton each nabbed two.
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Herta Mueller Wins Literature Nobel
Romanian-born German author Herta Mueller won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature.
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NBCC Celebrates 35th Anniversary of Awards with Roundtable
The National Book Critics Circle is celebrating the 35th anniversary of its awards this year. As part of the festivities, E.L. Doctorow and John Ashbery, who won the first NBCC Awards in fiction and poetry (for Ragtime and Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, respectively) will talk about the organization’s legacy at a discussion on September 12.
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Bellwether Prize to Accept Submissions September 1
The Bellwether Prize committee will accept submissions from September 1 through October 2 for the 2010 award. The literary prize, established by Barbara Kingsolver, supports the writing and publication of serious literary fiction addressing issues of social justice in culture and human relations. It has been awarded in even-numbered years for the past decade.
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PubWest Awards Rittenhouse to Chuck Hutchinson
Charles “Chuck” S. Hutchinson Jr. has won the 2009 Jack D. Rittenhouse Award. The award, which honors people who have made outstanding contributions to the book community in the West, is given by the Publishers Association of the West.
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Michael Thomas Wins IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Michael Thomas has won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his debut novel, Man Gone Down, which Black Cat, a paperback original imprint of Grove/Atlantic, published in 2007. The IMPAC Dublin is the world’s richest literary prize, worth €100,000 (almost US $150,000).
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Brenda Burchard Wins Jan Nathan Scholarship
Brenda Burchard manages Safer Society Press, an arm of the Safer Society Foundation, a non-profit that provides resources for the prevention and treatment of sexual abuse. Burcard said she plans to use the knowledge she gains at Stanford to generate revenue for the press and market titles using social media.
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'Blood Ties' Takes Red House Prize
Sophie McKenzie's Blood Ties, a YA thriller that explores genetic engineering, has won Britain’s Red House Children's Book Award, the only prize voted for entirely by children (this year, more than 143,000). U.S. rights, which are held by agent Rosemary Canter, have not yet been sold.
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James King Wins Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
A freelance corporate writer has won this year’s Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. James King, author of Bill Warrington’s Last Chance, landed a $25,000 contract with Viking. “This is an unbelievable feeling,” King said to the small crowd gathered at Battery Gardens restaurant in Manhattan this morning. “It’s a dream come true.”
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