Posts tagged with awards
It dripped with judgment
Ouch: Drew Barrymore was dropped as the National Book Awards host after her short-lived attempt to bring back her talk show despite the ongoing writers' and actors' strikes. While she eventually reversed her decision, I doubt the National Book Awards will reverse theirs; their official statement was...
So many choices!
I've never heard of the gossip website Oh No They Didn't!'s monthly reading challenge before, but I really like this idea: in December, they're challenging their followers to read a book that won an award (any award) in 2018...
Who do I blame for this?
According to the New York Times, Michael Ondaatje won the "Golden Man Booker Prize" for his 1992 novel The English Patient. The Golden Man Booker Prize is like a souped-up version of the annual award: five judges were asked to choose the best winner from each decade, and then the public voted on the resulting shortlist of nominees. Someone clearly got it wrong, but...
Moving on
If you follow national literary news, there have been a lot of stories this week about the American Library Association's decision to remove Laura Ingalls Wilder's name from their annual award for children's literature. NPR put together a helpful essay exploring the controversy...
Not convinced, but worth a try
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America recently released its nominees for the 2017 Nebula Awards (which are awarded to the best sci-fi novel, novella, novelette, and short story of the year, as determined by professional authors). The Verge published the list of nominees...
Harrumph
I was chagrined to discover that Sophia Bennett's young adult novel Love Song doesn't seem to be easily available here in the U.S. Love Song recently won the Goldsboro Books Romantic Novel of the Year prize. It's only the second time in the award's...
Way to go, Mother Jones!
Congratulations to Mother Jones magazine, which was recently named as the magazine of the year by the American Society Of Magazine Editors. According to Deadline, this year's National Magazine Awards were full of surprises...
Maybe if I took out a loan...
I was recently introduced to the Folio Society, a London-based publisher of beautiful (and painfully expensive) books. I'm impressed by the fact that they appear to devote just as much effort—if not more—to books like Stephen King's...
Yes, that's really what they call themselves.
Ugh: once again, the Hugo Awards have been hijacked by two groups known as "Sad Puppies" and "Rabid Puppies". While there are slight differences between the Puppy factions, both are determined to defeat what the Guardian tactfully refers to as "a perceived bias towards liberal and left-wing science-fiction and fantasy authors". Put less tactfully, the Puppies are...
About time
And speaking of H.P. Lovecraft, there's an article about his long and disturbing history of racism over on Salon. (See why I can't make a logical Christmas/Lovecraft connection?) Lovecraft has been in the news recently because...
I'd still prefer a movie.
I'm still waiting (...and waiting) for a film adaptation of one of Georgette Heyer's novels, but at least there are signs that her literary legacy is still being celebrated: according to the Guardian, Heyer was recently honored...
Gloomy reality check
Novelist Nicola Griffith recently posted a disheartening study regarding the last 15 years of six major fiction awards. According to her research...
Shenanigans
Also on NPR: a thrilling account of a literary-award beatdown! (Not really.) Anyway, Australia's top book prize, the Prime Minister's Literary Award, was given out last week, and there were a pair of winners in the fiction category...
Awards season, comics 'verse
Publishers Weekly recently posted a nice summary of the 41st Festival International de la Bande Desinée in Angoulême, France. Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson won the 2014 Grand Prix (basically a lifetime achievement award), despite the fact that he is extremely unlikely to...
Awards season
This year's Newbery Medal winner was just announced: Kate DiCamillo's Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, from Candlewick Press. In addition, Publishers Weekly posted a helpful...
Congratulations, Ms. Tapahonso!
In a bit of closer-to-home poetry news, the Navajo Nation has just announced its first Poet Laureate: Luci Tapahonso, a poet, college professor, and novelist whose writing often blends English with Diné, the Navajo language...
And we hope they were delicious
According to the Horn Book Blog, the 2012 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction has been given to Jack Gantos's book Dead End in Norvelt. When informed of this honor, the stunned Mr. Gantos a...
Congratulations...?
It's that time of year again, dear readers: time for the 19th annual Literary Review "Bad Sex in Fiction" Award. This year's prize was given to David Guterson's novel Ed King, which they describe...
Getting out the vote
According to The Comics Beat, you can check out Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca’s Eisner Award-nominated comic book Afrodisiac for free. The book is currently between printings, so its publisher has po...
Real award, (thankfully) fictional sex
The 18th annual Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction award was announced a few days ago, and the dubious honor was given to Irish author Rowan Somerville for The Shape of Her, which apparently inclu...
One-stop shopping
If you're interested in checking out any of this year's finalists for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Horn Book people and the School Library Journal folks have both put...
"Best of 2010" already?
The 2010 Hugo Awards for outstanding science fiction or fantasy works were given out this week. The best novel award was a tie this year—China Miéville's The City & The City and Paolo Bacigalupi'...
Randomness
Huh. Apparently, there's an award given out each year for the oddest book title, and this year's winner is...Who knew? But now I kind of want to read it.
Life of Pi, the movie
According to Variety, Ang Lee is in talks to direct Life of Pi, an adaptation of the Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Yann Martel. The book, which I have not read, is described as the story of "a...
Literary fundraising
The Shirley Jackson Awards, honoring outstanding work in the genres of psychological suspense, horror, and the "dark fantastic", is currently holding an online lottery to raise money for their awa...
Reading between the lines
Publishers Weekly has posted a list of the winners of the 2009 "Off the Cuff" awards, and it's worth taking a gander at--for the publishing gossip, if nothing else. (Blueberries for Sal went out o...
National Book Awards
Once again they have announced the finalists for the National Book Awards, and once again, despite spending the entire freaking year reading and reviewing books, I haven't read a single featured t...
It's manga awards season!
The results of the 32nd Kodansha Awards are out, and they've selected some really great-looking stuff this year. (The Kodansha Awards have made plenty of solid picks in the past: both Tramps Like...
Awards season
Well, the National Book Awards finalists have been announced, and—surprise!—we've read exactly one of 'em. (And it's a picture book: Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret, in case you wer...