Bibliofemme News
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12/11/2004
Controversy over US book award
One of the biggest book awards in the US is the subject of controversy after a decision to change the fiction category. Judges of The National Book Awards have amended the fiction category to become a "Municipal Book Award" and the five short-listed authors are little known women writers who all live in New York.
New York Times book critic Caryn James said: "It defies logic to think that five such similar books just happen to be the best of the year. James also slammed the "claustrophobic sameness" of the category nominees.
None of the five women nominated have sold more than 2,800 copies of their short-listed books and many prominent book industry people claim never to have heard of the books - or their writers - until their nomination.
One former co-chairman of the National Book Foundation said he had didn't know any of the fiction finalists and wasn't asked to read them. "It's supposed to be an achievement award for the best that's been done, not a feel good award for aspiring writers," said Herman Gollob.
The short-listed books are: Florida by Christine Schutt, Our Kind: A Novel in Stories by Kate Walbert, The News From Paraguay by Lily Tuck, Madeleine is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum and Ideas of Heaven: a Ring of Stories by Joan Silber.
The winners of the all categories in the National Book Awards will be announced next Wednesday November 17th.
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