Neil Gaiman, Daniel Handler team up to distribute books in New York City
If you were in New York City yesterday and thought you saw authors Daniel Handler and Neil Gaiman handing out books, your eyes weren鈥檛 deceiving you.
According to the website , Gaiman and Handler competed on Nov. 19 to see who could give away more books in half an hour at Washington Square Park, distributing both the National Book Award nominees for this year as well as their own works. (Who won? According to , Handler said the winner was 鈥渓iterature.鈥�)
Handler (also known as Lemony Snicket, the author of the 鈥淪eries of Unfortunate Events鈥� book series) hosted this year鈥檚 NBAs, while Gaiman presented the 2014 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters聽to聽Ursula K. Le Guin at the ceremony.
According to PW, Handler and Gaiman still said hello to people waiting in line after the thirty minutes had elapsed and the books to distribute had vanished.聽
鈥淵our books were so important to my childhood,鈥� one person said to Handler, according to PW. 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry,鈥� he said.聽
The National Book Awards this year went to the short story collection 鈥淩edeployment鈥� by Phil Klay, the nonfiction 鈥淎ge of Ambition鈥� by Evan Osnos, Jacqueline Woodson鈥檚 young readers鈥� book 鈥淏rown Girl Dreaming,鈥� and Louise Gluck鈥檚 poetry work 鈥淔aithful and Virtuous Night.鈥�
