2016 Nov 5
by Vandana Hiranand
The highly anticipated book awards are just around the corner! As promised, we bring you a comprehensive list of all the nominations for each category. The National Book Awards will be announced on the 16th of November and each winner will receive a medal, a statue, and $10,000.
The categories are fiction, non-fiction, poetry and young people’s literature. Let’s have a look at the nominees below.
FICTION
- The Throwback Special – Chris Bachelder
Bechelder has penned a moving and hilarious story, which revolves around manhood, marriage, middle age and the rituals we all enact as part of being alive. The Throwback Special further was the winner of the Paris Review’s 2016 Terry Southern Prize for Humor.
- News of the World – Paulette Jiles
A brilliant work of historical fiction, News of the World explores the dimensions of family, responsibility, honor, and trust. Jiles has created a morally complex masterpiece and unforgettable characters.
- The Association of Small Bombs – Karan Mahajan
Mahajan’s novel was named a Best Book of 2006 by: Esquire, Time magazine, and Vulture.com. It has been longlisted for the FT/Oppenheimer Emerging Voices and is a New York Times Editors’ Choice novel. Exploring the lives of those affected in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in India, Mahajan has received immense praise for his work.
- The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead
Whitehead brilliantly recreates the unique terrors black people in the pre-Civil era. It is an exciting adventure tale of one woman’s powerful will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering powerful meditation on history.
- Another Brooklyn – Jacqueline Woodson
This New York Times Bestseller novel retells the flashbacks of the lives of girls living in 1970’s Brooklyn, a dangerous place filled with terrifying events. This story explores the themes of hope and friendship in the unlikeliest of places.
NON-FICTION
- Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right – Arlie Russell Hochschild
This is a thought-provoking book, in which Hochschild draws on her expert knowledge of the sociology of emotion to help us understand what it feels like to live in “red” America.
- Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America – Ibram X. Kendi
In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti–Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history, using the lives of five major American intellectuals.
- Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War – Viet Thanh Nyugen
Nyugen explores his underlying theme: all wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory. This narrative brings a comprehensive vision of the war into sharp focus and offers a lesson for all wars on the importance of reconciliation.
- The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America – Andrés Reséndez
This narrative reveals a key missing piece of American history – an entirely separate and equally devastating enslavement of Indians across North America.
- Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy – Heather Ann Thompson
The first definitive account of the infamous 1971 Attica prison uprising, the state’s violent response, and the victims’ decades-long quest for justice including information never released to the public published to coincide with the forty-fifth anniversary of this historic event.
POETRY
- The Performance of Becoming Human – Daniel Borzutzky
- Collected Poems 1974 – 2004 – Rita Dove
- Archeophonics – Peter Gizzi
- The Abridged History of Rainfall – Jay Hopler
- Look – Solmaz Sharif
YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE
- Raymie Nightingale – Kate DiCamillo
Two-time Newbery Medalist, Kate DiCamillo, has created a moving, masterful story of an unforgettable summer friendship and family difficulties.
- March: Book Three – John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
The stunning conclusion of the award-winning March Trilogy, to bring the lessons of history to vivid life for a new generation and today’s world.
- When the Sea Turned to Silver – Grace Lin
A breathtaking, illustrated fantasy story, inspired from Chinese folklore. When the Sea Turned to Silver is a extraordinarily written and illustrated. It is the companion novel to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and Starry River of the Sky.
- Ghost – Jason Reynolds
This novel explores the lives of Ghost and three other kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are bound to clash. The book examines how Ghost tries to escape his haunting past in this electrifying novel.
- The Sun is also a Star – Nicola Yoon
A moving and suspenseful novel, filled with heartbreak and hope. A clash between the universe, fate and science is explored, as Natasha and Daniel begin to navigate life.