Last night’s National Book Award ceremony, hosted by John Lithgow, was held at Cipriani on Wall Street in New York City (“I thought I should point out, since nobody else has,” said poet Ann Lauterbach, introducing John Ashbery, “that we are occupying Wall Street”). At first, Lithgow seemed a little anxious about, or at least humbled by, his status as an actor hosting such an event, joking, “Am I crazy to envision Philip Roth hosting the Oscars?” and demurring, “I am an actor. I read words written by writers.” But don’t worry — he also got a little plug in for his own memoir, reminding us that, “My first book for grownups came out in September.” Before the official awards were announced came the honorary ones: the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community was presented to Mitchell Kaplan, and the 2011 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to Ashbery, who quipped, “What I write makes no sense. It lacks accessibility,” and made knowing references to the fuss over ‘readability’ around this year’s Man Booker Prize. Hooray insider book industry jokes! We admit that we love them. Then, the official book awards began — click through to find out who won! Read More »
After the unfortunate National Book Awards debacle yesterday — in which Shine’s Lauren Myracle withdrew her title due to a mix-up on behalf of the foundation — Vanity Fair sat down with the young adult author to get her side of the story. She described the experience ” … like any bad breakup … ” and feels “humbled” by the community outpouring of support (see: Twitter’s #isupportshine). Even though executive director Harold Augenbraum was “diplomatic” and a “darling” about the entire episode, the news obviously hit Myracle right in the gut.
“I felt embarrassed, and ashamed that I had the gall to believe that this book was worthy. So over the weekend came the question of, Do I withdraw, or do I let them strip it from me? I first thought: They made the mistake; they can clean it up. Then I realized that I had a chance to either be classy or be seen as someone gripping with white knuckles to something they didn’t want me to have.”
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This year, a whopping 1,223 books were submitted for the 62nd National Book Awards. Just this morning, the twenty finalists were announced in front of a live audience on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s morning radio program, Think Out Loud. At the start of the program, when asked what separated the National Book Award from other literary prizes, National Book Foundation executive director Harold Augenbraum noted that the finalists and winners are chosen only by “practitioners in the genre,” something relatively unusual among American book awards. 2001 Young People’s Literature winner Virginia Euwer Wolff commented, “It’s comforting to know we are being judged by people who do what we do.”
Each NBA Finalist will receive a medal and a prize of $1,000. The four winners, one each in the categories of Young People’s Literature, Poetry, Nonfiction and Fiction, who will be announced next month, will receive a $10,000 prize. Click through to see the 2011 National Book Award nominations and let us know your predictions for the winners in the comments!
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Hot on the heels of Howard Jacobson’s Man Booker Prize win yesterday, the finalists for this year’s National Book Awards have been announced. We’re not sure what we find more surprising: the fact that Jonathan Franzen isn’t here, or that Patti Smith made the cut with her memoir Just Kids, which chronicles her intense friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe (check out our review here.) We only hope that she wins! Click through to peruse the list of finalists for Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry, and let us know in the comments who you’re rooting for. The winners will be announced at an official ceremony on November 17th.
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New York-based singer Joe Hurley collaborated with National Book Award winner Colum McCann to write “The House that Horse Built” (Let the Great World Spin), a 12-minute track inspired by a chapter in McCann’s novel about 1970s New York, Let the Great World Spin. The limited edition EP was produced by Don Fleming (Sonic Youth, Pete Yorn, Nancy Sinatra, Hunter S. Thompson) and is currently available for download here.
While this song is told from the point of view of Tilly, a black prostitute who loses her daughter, rumor is that the pair is working on nine additional tracks inspired by other characters from the book for a full-length album that would coincide with the release of the paperback version in the UK.
If you live in New York, check out the album release party on December 8th at Joe’s Pub. Hurley will perform “The House that Horse Built” live for the first time with the full band, and McCann is scheduled to appear as well.
Download an excerpt from the book here.
1. David Lynch is working on a film about The Beatles’ meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. [via NME]
2. Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker, and Doug Yule will make an extremely rare joint public appearance on December 8th at the New York Public Library to discuss the Velvet Underground’s music and legacy. [via Billboard]
3. The National Book Award winners will be announced today; track the nominees’ sales before you place your bets. [via The Faster Times]
4. The San Diego Opera is currently tweeting the history of the genre at the rate of two posts a day. [via ArtsBeat]
5. Bob Weinstein says brace yourselves for Scream 4, 5, and 6. [via Vulture]
Bonus link: Beyoncé: “Video Phone” feat. Lady Gaga (extended version)
