Prizes and Awards

Which Books Made The Final Cut?

Every year in the US, writers and publishers hold their breath to see who made the final cut it in The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Awards. The NBCC has the power to make literary reputations and jump-start sagging careers.

Founded in 1974, they recognise outstanding writing and foster a national conversation about reading, criticism, and literature. The awards are given each year in March, and honour literature published in the United States in six categories – autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

Here is the complete list of NBCC Award finalists for the publishing year of 2018:

Fiction

• Milkman by Anna Burns
• Slave Old Man by Patrick Chamoiseau (translated by Linda Coverdale)
• The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson
• The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
• The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea

Non-fiction

• The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantú
• Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Steve Coll
• The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt
• We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights by Adam Winkler
• God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright

Autobiography

• The Day That Went Missing: A Family’s Story by Richard Beard
• All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
• What Drowns the Flowers in Your Mouth: A Memoir of Brotherhood by Rigoberto Gonzalez
• Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home by Nora Krug
• Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over by Nell Painter
• Educated by Tara Westover

Biography

• Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous by Christopher Bonanos
• Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown
• Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang
• The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century by Mark Lamster
• The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created by Jane Leavy

Criticism

• Is It Still Good to Ya?: Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 by Robert Christgau
• Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt
• To Float in the Space Between: A Life and Work in Conversation with the Life and Work of Etheridge Knight by Terrance Hayes
• The Reckonings by Lacy M. Johnson
• Feel Free by Zadie Smith

Poetry

• American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin by Terrance Hayes
• The Carrying by Ada Limón
• Holy Moly Carry Me by Erika Meitner
• Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl by Diane Seuss
• Asymmetry by Adam Zagajewski (translated by Clare Cavanagh)

His Book Was Big Here, Now Watch It Take Off in the US!

Australian debut author Christian White has recently published his novel The Nowhere Child in the United States. The book, which has been published by Minotaur Books, features a different cover to the Australian edition, and is a testament to the Australian author’s wildly successful debut here at home.

Hollywood, Here We Come

2019 is already looking to be an exciting year for books, but also a big year for cinema, with some of your favourite novels making it onto the big screen. Here are the movies based on best-selling books that you can expect to see this year:

The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn: Scheduled for release in October, 2019

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: Scheduled for release in October, 2019

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion: Scheduled for release in May, 2019 (US)

And won’t it be interesting to see if the celluloid version is as good as the book?

Events

In Conversation with Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project

Hilarious and thought-provoking, with a brilliant cast of characters and an ending that will have readers cheering, The Rosie Result is the triumphant final instalment of the internationally best-selling and beloved series that began with The Rosie Project.

Join best-selling author of The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion, in conversation about his new book The Rosie Result at this very special event at Riverside Theatres on the 7th of February, 6:30pm.

Books will be available for purchase on the night and you will have the opportunity to meet Graeme to have it signed. All attendees will also have the chance to win lucky door prizes of the Rosie books.

You can read more about the event and purchase tickets here.

That’s it for the week. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for future bookish news bulletins.