Award Winning Books

From GRPLpedia

Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize is one of the world's most prestigious awards for contemporary fiction. It is awarded each year to the best novel written by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or Ireland. For a complete list of nominees and winners visit Booker Prize

2008 Winner

"There is a new Muse stalking global narrative: brown, angry, hilarious, half-educated, rustic-urban, iconoclastic, paan-spitting, word-smithing--and in the case of Aravind Adiga she hails from a town called Laxmangarh. This is the authentic voice of the Third World, like you've never heard it before. Adiga is a global Gorky, a modern Kipling who grew up, and grew up mad. The future of the novel lies here." - John Burdett, author of Bangkok 8

Shortlist

National Book Award

The National Book Award is presented annually to an American writer. It is one of the most preeminent literary prizes in the United States. For a complete list of previous nominees and winners, including other categories, visit the National Book Foundation

FICTION:

2008 Winner

“Matthiessen is writing about one man's life in Shadow Country, but he is also writing about the life of the nation over the course of half a century. Watson's story is essentially the story of the American frontier, of the conquering of wild lands and people, and of what such empires cost….Even among a body of work as magnificent as Matthiessen's, this is his great book.” — St. Petersburg Times

Finalists

NONFICTION:

2008 Winner

"This is a scholar's book: serious, thick, complex. It's also fascinating, wise and of the utmost importance. Gordon-Reed, a professor of both history and law who in her previous book helped solve some of the mysteries of the intimate relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, now brings to life the entire Hemings family and its tangled blood links with slave-holding Virginia whites over an entire century." — Publishers Weekly

Finalists

National Book Critics Circle Award

Each year NBCC awards prizes to the finest books published in English. For a complete list of winners, including categories for biography, criticism, and poetry visit NBCC

FICTION:

2008 Winner

"Including the imaginary and the mythic alongside the real in his historiography, without ever dabbling in the magical realism dear to many of his Latin-American peers, Bolano strews his chronicle with dreams and visions. As in the films of David Lynch (with whom Bolano's novel shares a certain kinship) these become a catalyst for reflection ... In such darkness, one must keep one's eyes wide open. Bolano invites us to do just that." --Sabine Audrerie, LA CROIX

Finalists

NONFICTION:

2008 Winner

“Dexter Filkins's The Forever War is the best piece of war journalism I've ever read. He paints a portrait of war that is so nuanced, so filled with absurdities and heartbreak and unexpected heroes and villains, that it makes most of what we see and hear about Iraq and Afghanistan seem shrill and two-dimensional by comparison. And yet, as tragic as the events he describes are, the book manages to be a thing of towering beauty.” --Dave Eggers, Guardian Best Books of the Year

Finalists

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize in Literature distinguishes the works of authors from many different countries, cultures, and languages. The prize has been awarded to acclaimed authors as well as undiscovered talent. Visit Nobelprize.org for the complete list of Nobel Laureates in Literature.

2008 Winner Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

PEN/Faulkner Award

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is a national prize which honors the best published works of fiction by American citizens each year. For a complete list of winners visit The Pen/Faulkner Foundation

2009 Winner

"New York is not what most people imagine it to be. Just as marriage, family, friendship and manhood are not. Netherland is suspenseful, artful, psychologically pitch-perfect, and a wonderful read. But more than any of that, it's revelatory. Joseph O'Neill has managed to paint the most famous city in the world, and the most familiar concept in the world (love) in an entirely new way." --Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything Is Illuminated

Finalists

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize for fiction is an annual award given to an American author, with preference to work pertaining to American issues. Visit Pulitzer Prizes for more information.

FICTION:

2009 Winner

"Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge. . . . You’ll never forget her. . . . [Elizabeth Strout] constructs her stories with rich irony and moments of genuine surprise and intense emotion. . . . Glorious, powerful stuff." -–USA Today

Finalists

NONFICTION:

2009 Winner

"A powerful and eye-opening account of a crucial but unremembered chapter of American history. Blackmon’s magnificent research paints a devastating picture of the ugly and outrageous practices that kept tens of thousands of black Americans enslaved until the onset of World War II. Slavery by Another Name is a passionate, highly impressive, and hugely important book." --David J. Garrow, author

Finalists