Thomas Pynchon, George Packer and others are finalists for National Book Award
The contenders for the 2013 National Book Award for fiction are now narrowed down to five, with authors including Thomas Pynchon, Jhumpa Lahiri, and George Saunders making the cut.
Pynchon was nominated for his novel 鈥淏leeding Edge,鈥� while Lahiri鈥檚 鈥淭he Lowland鈥� and Saunders鈥� short story collection 鈥淭enth of December鈥� were selected. Writer Rachel Kushner made the list for her novel 鈥淭he Flamethrowers鈥� and James McBride received a nod for his book 鈥淭he Good Lord Bird.鈥�
Meanwhile, authors including George Packer and Jill LePore made the nonfiction nominees list. LePore received the nod for her work 鈥淏ook of Ages,鈥� while Packer鈥檚 book 鈥淭he Unwinding鈥� also made the list as well as Wendy Lower鈥檚 鈥淗itler鈥檚 Furies,鈥� Lawrence Wright鈥檚 鈥淕oing Clear,鈥� and Alan Taylor鈥檚 鈥淭he Internal Enemy.鈥�
For the young people鈥檚 literature prize, authors Meg Rosoff of 鈥淧icture Me Gone,鈥� Cynthia Kadohata of 鈥淭he Thing About Luck,鈥� Tom McNeal of 鈥淔ar Far Away,鈥� Gene Luen Yang of 鈥淏oxers & Saints,鈥� and Kathi Appelt of 鈥淭he True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp鈥� will be competing for the award.
The poetry contenders are 鈥淪tay, Illusion鈥� by Lucie Brock-Broido, 鈥淏lack Aperture鈥� by Matt Rasmussen, 鈥淢etaphysical Dog鈥� by Frank Bidart, 鈥淭he Big Smoke鈥� by Adrian Matejka, and 鈥淚ncarnadine鈥� by Mary Szybist. As pointed out by , all but Bidart are first-time NBA nominees.聽
Last year, author Louise Erdrich took the fiction prize for 鈥淭he Round House,鈥� while 鈥淏ehind the Beautiful Forevers鈥� by Katherine Boo won the nonfiction award.
Excerpts of the nominees are available via free e-books for the first time on the National Book Award website. The winners for each category will be announced next month.
