Two of the pre-eminent book awards announced their nominees for the best of 2020 last week. 

 

The Booker Prize for Fiction rewards the finest in fiction, highlighting great books for readers and transforming authors’ careers.  The nominees for the shortlist are:  “The New Wilderness” by Diane Cook, a brilliant tale of the results of climate change on an ordinary mother and daughter, “This Mournable Body” by Tsitsi Dangarembga, a story of another young girl growing up in post-colonial Zimbabwe,   “Burnt Sugar” by Avni Doshi, also deals with the relations between a mother and daughter, “The Shadow King” by Maaza Mengiste, a story about a young girl struggling to deal with Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, “Real Life” by Brandon Taylor, “a deeply affecting story about the emotional cost of reckoning with desire, and overcoming pain” according to Amazon, and “Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart, a debut novel about “the unsinkable love that only children can have for their damaged parents.” (Amazon) 

 

The prize will be announced on Tuesday, November 17.

 

The National Book Awards are given out in five categories, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature and Young People’s Literature.  The National Book Foundation released its long list of ten items in each category last week.   

 

The nominees for Fiction are: “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam, “The Index of Self-Destructive Acts,’ by Christopher Beha, “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett, “If I Had Two Wings” by Randall Kenan, “A Burning” by Mega Majumdar, “A Children’s Bible” by Lydia Millet, “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies” by Deesha Philyaw, “Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart, “The Great Offshore Grounds” by Vanessa Veselka, and “Interior Chinatown” by Charles Yu. 

 

A shortlist of five will be announced in a month and the winners announced on November 18.