The shortlist of five finalists for the 2012 National Book Award in fiction were announced today and run as follows:
- This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz (The Millions review, Díaz’s Year in Reading, a Top Ten book)
- A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers (excerpt [pdf], a former Top Ten book)
- The Round House by Louise Erdrich (excerpt)
- Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain (The Millions interview, excerpt)
- The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (excerpt)
This highly prestigious award should be given out soon. We in the English Department are partial to Junot Diaz, if only because his 2007 novel, The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, was the novel we selected to distribute for the inaugural American World Book Night last year.
Stay tuned for both the winner of the prize, as well as updates on the 2013 World Book Night, which we hope to be bigger and better than our first run.
