And so the opening salvo of the National Book Awards has been launched ... gradually.
Over the past four days, the National Book Foundation has been rolling out the lists of nominees for its prestigious literary prize in waves — beginning the week by revealing the nominees for its young people's literature, nonfiction and poetry prizes. On Thursday, the foundation capped the multiday rollout with the release of its longlist of 10 nominees for the fiction prize.
In case you're counting at home, that means 40 works remain in contention for the prize. You can find all of them below, or if you're searching for just one longlist in particular, you can jump to it right here: fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people's literature.
Unlike the shortlist for the U.K.-based Man Booker Prize, which was announced Tuesday, the long lists for the National Book Awards still feature their fair share of familiar names — albeit occasionally in different genres than we saw them last. Jacqueline Woodson, who has won an NBA in young people's literature, returns with Another Brooklyn, her first novel for adults in two decades. Viet Thanh Nguyen, who won last year's Pulitzer for his fiction, makes an appearance on the long list for nonfiction for Nothing Ever Dies -- which, like his 2015 novel, delves into the kaleidoscopic legacy of the Vietnam War. And Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, iconic activist and politician, joins his collaborators Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell on the YPL list for their third volume in a graphic memoir series on the civil rights movement.
Still, it's all but impossible to distill a list of 40 works, teeming as they are with all their complexities, down to a few snappy summaries. So instead, we'll leave you with the lists and what to expect next: The finalists will be announced on Oct. 13, and the winners will be announced at a New York gala on Nov. 16.
Until then, happy reading.
National Book Award Long Lists
Fiction
Chris Bachelder, The Throwback SpecialGarth Greenwell, What Belongs to YouAdam Haslett, Imagine Me GonePaulette Jiles, News of the WorldKaran Mahajan, The Association of Small BombsElizabeth McKenzie, The Portable VeblenLydia Millet, Sweet Lamb of HeavenBrad Watson, Miss JaneColson Whitehead, The Underground RailroadJacqueline Woodson, Another Brooklyn
Nonfiction
Andrew J. Bacevich, America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military HistoryPatricia Bell-Scott, The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social JusticeAdam Cohen, Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie BuckArlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American RightIbram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in AmericaViet Thanh Nguyen, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of WarCathy O'Neil, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens DemocracyAndrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in AmericaManisha Sinha, The Slave's Cause: A History of AbolitionHeather Ann Thompson, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
Poetry
Daniel Borzutzky, The Performance of Becoming Human Rita Dove, Collected Poems 1974 — 2004Peter Gizzi, ArcheophonicDonald Hall, The Selected Poems of Donald HallJay Hopler, The Abridged History of RainfallDonika Kelly, BestiaryJane Mead, World of Made and UnmadeSolmaz Sharif, LookMonica Youn, BlackacreKevin Young, Blue Laws
Young People's Literature
Kwame Alexander, BookedKate DiCamillo, Raymie NightingaleJohn Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell (Artist) March: Book ThreeGrace Lin, When the Sea Turned to SilverAnna-Marie McLemore, When the Moon Was OursMeg Medina, Burn Baby BurnSara Pennypacker & Jon Klassen (Illustrator), PaxJason Reynolds, GhostCaren Stelson, Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor's StoryNicola Yoon, The Sun Is Also A Star
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