AMERICAN LETTERS / SHORT LIST FOR 2019’S NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

TWO PASSIONS IN LIFE.  The shortlist of winners of the 2019 National Book awards has been posted by the National Book Foundation.

Illustration for this blog by Jean-Jacques Henner (1829-1905).

The winners of the National Book awards for 2019 will be announced in two weeks (Nov. 20). Presenter the National Book Foundation will hold a ceremony in New York City at Cipriani Wall Street restaurant.

Fiction

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Nonfiction

What You Have Heard is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance by Carolyn Forché

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer

Solitary by Albert Woodfox with Leslie George

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom

Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Poetry

Sight Lines by Arthur Sze

The Tradition by Jericho Brown

“I”: New and Selected Poems by Toi Derricotte

Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky

Be Recorder by Carmen Giménez Smith

Translated Literature

Death Is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa

Translated from the Arabic by Leri Price

Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai

Translated from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet

The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga

Translated from the French by Jordan Stump

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

Translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder

Crossing by Pajtim Statovci

Translated from the Finnish by David Hackston

Young People’s Literature

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby

1919 The Year That Changed America by Martin W. Sandler

Esoterica:

How many titles are submitted for the National Book Award?

In 2018, 1,637 titles were submitted for consideration for the National Book Award. Of these titles, 368 were for Fiction, 546 were for Nonfiction, 246 were for Poetry, 142 were for Translated Literature, and 325 were for Young People’s Literature.

AWARDS VENUE. Located on one of the world's most famous streets, Cipriani Wall Street restaurant features classic dishes from Harry's Bar in Venice.