The 2009 National Book Award winners have been announced. I would have gone to the black-tie ceremony and dinner in New York, but discovered my black tie was in the cleaners. Dang it. Anyway, I’m still here to let you know who won.
Young People’s Literature:
Phillip Hoose for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Poetry:
Keith Waldrop for Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy (University of California Press)
Nonfiction:
T. J. Stiles for The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (Alfred A. Knopf)
Fiction:
Colum McCann for Let the Great World Spin (Random House)
Distinguished Contribution to American Literature:
Gore Vidal
The Literarian Award:
Dave Eggers
The Best of the National Book Awards Fiction:
The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
All good friends of mine. Each and every one.
Biggest Liar Award:
Helen Ginger for her audacity to try to trick you into believing she knows any of these wonderful writers. She does know lots of fabulous writers, but not any of these. At the moment. She is, however, stalking one of them.
5 years ago
You're a card, Helen. Always entertaining and your lies are fabulous. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm really sorry that your black tie wasn't available. Such poor timing!
Nice twist, Helen!
ReplyDeleteIronically, I've never heard of ANY of those books. Heard of Vidal and Eggers, but that's it...
Congratulations on your award! LOL
ReplyDeleteFlannery O'Connor is the only one I've read! :)
ReplyDeleteI need more reading time!
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Raising my coffee cup in a congratulations toast to all the winners! I'll bet it was a fabulous awards ceremony :)
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad an award ceremony for books doesn't get the TV time that ones for movies or music or getting slimed do.
ReplyDeleteAwww! I just knew Dead Wreckoning made the list. It should've, huh.
ReplyDeleteLOL, and I'd be a liar if I said you didn't have me there for just a second. My thought was, well at least I know someone who knows all those famous people, haha.
ReplyDeleteMarvin D Wilson
I find that the book winners are generally writers I haven't heard of, other than Vidal and O'Conner, of course.
ReplyDeleteSo much for everything being about "bestsellers" ;-)
Oops, I lied, too. Dave Eggers, I have heard of. I haven't read him, but I've heard of him.
ReplyDeleteDoes having read some of the work of these authors count as "knowing" them?
ReplyDeleteYes, Sylvia, you should have made the list.
ReplyDeleteAnd YES, Maryann. You are our winner. Our insider to getting to meet some of them. I may switch from stalking one of the winners to stalking you.
Wanting to invite readers over to my new blog for writers at www.sylviadickeysmithbooks.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteCome by and say hi.
I was quite prepared to believe you know them all. I really wish you knew Dave Eggers because maybe you'd introduce me and I'd get all shy and so forth. It is a smaller pond in Canada. And we televise our main literary award - the Gillers. I have seen but not met the man who won this year - Linden MacIntyre. I've met Michael Ondaatje (swoon) and know his brother well. I am crazy when I meet real authors! I have a friend, a good friend, who is a writer and won a prestigious poetry prize this year (CBC Literary Awards). But I'm not shy around her cuz she's my bud and normal and all.
ReplyDeleteHelen I was just about to grovel for some introductions!
ReplyDelete