The end of the year and the beginning of the new year are when lots of major literary award winners are announced. Many awards make shortlists of finalists before announcing the top winner and these books are sure to end up on many best-of-2018 lists. What’s already been announced?
The National Book Awards will be announced on November 14, but shortlists have already been announced. They award books in many categories, but the fiction finalists are:
- A Lucky Man: Stories by Jamel Brinkley (2018; 243 pages).
- Florida by Lauren Groff (2018; 275 pages). Also available on Overdrive e-book and CD audiobook.
- Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson (2018; 273 pages). Also available on Overdrive e-book.
- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (2018; 421 pages). Also available on Overdrive e-book.
- The Friend by Sigrid Nunez (2018; 212 pages).
And the National Book Award nonfiction finalists are:
- The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of a Nation by Collin G. Calloway (2018; 621 pages).
- American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic (2018; 461 pages). (Also available on CD audiobook.)
- Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh (2018; 290 pages). Also available on Overdrive e-book and CD audiobook.
- The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey Stewart (2018; 932 pages).
- We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights by Adam Winkler (2018; 471 pages).
The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlists have also been announced. In fiction, we have:
- Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (2018; 333 pages). Also available on Overdrive e-book.
- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (2018; 421 pages). Also available on Overdrive e-book.
- There, There by Tommy Orange (2018; 294 pages). Also available in Large Print, CD audiobook, Playaway, Overdrive e-book, and Overdrive downloadable audiobook.
And the Carnegie Medal nonfiction finalists are:
- The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantú (2018; 250 pages). Also available in Large Print.
- Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon (2018; 241 pages).
- Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America by Beth Macy (2018; 376 pages). Also available in Large Print.
Have you read any of these shortlisted titles? Are there any that you think you might pick up?
— Abby Johnson, Collection Development Lead
