Big news, literary lovers! This year’s recipients of the National Book Awards have been announced; keep reading to find out the winners in five crucial categories!
Padma Lakshmi, Emmy-nominated producer, food expert, television host, and New York Times bestselling author, hosted the exclusively online National Book Awards Ceremony on November 16, 2022 at 8:00pm EST. Book enthusiasts across the country tuned in here!
The awards are important not just for the breaking news but the intent behind it: The mission of the National Book Foundation is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture.
Over the course of the evening, The National Book Foundation announced the winners and finalists for the prestigious awards, naming five books each (one winner and four finalists) in five categories.
Alongside these awards, the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community was awarded to Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director of the American Library Association (ALA), and the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was presented by author Neil Gaiman to Art Spiegelman, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, Maus.
BookTrib congratulates:
Fiction: The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
Nonfiction: South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry
Poetry: Punks: New & Selected Poems by John Keene
Translated Literature: Seven Empty Houses by Samantha Schweblin, translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell
Young People’s Literature: All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
Here are the finalists for each category:
Fiction:
The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones
The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela
Nonfiction:
The Man Who Could Move Clouds: A Memoir by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O’Rourke
Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus by David Quammen
His Names is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa
Poetry:
Look at This Blue by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
Balladz by Sharon Olds
Best Barbarian by Rover Reeves
The Rupture Tense by Jenny Xie
Translated Literature:
A New Game: Septology VI-VII by Jan Fosse, translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls
Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti
Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda, translated from the Spanish by Sarah Booker
Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani
Young People’s Literature:
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist For Justice by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes and Dawud Anyabwile
Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee
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