National Book Awards Winners Announced

The winners of the 2019 National Book Awards were announced today. It’s an exciting day for book-lovers everywhere! Why is that? Well, readers eagerly anticipate the announcement so they can begin reading the most highly acclaimed titles of the year. For those of you wondering what all the hubbub is surrounding this award, allow us to give you a little background information. The National Book Awards were established in 1950 to commemorate the best writing throughout America. The Awards honor the best American Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature and YA Literature. A panel of judges create a longlist with ten titles in each category, which then gets whittled down to five finalists (the shortlist) and finally one winner, who pockets a cool $10,000. Copies of the books on both the longlist and shortlist along with the official winners can be found in the Westchester Library catalog.

Fiction Shortlist

Winner: Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Nonfiction Shortlist

Winner: The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom

Translated Literature Shortlist

Winner: Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming by Ottilie Mulzet, Laszlo Krasznahorkai

Poetry Shortlist

Winner: Sight Lines by Arthur Sze