2012 National Book Award Finalists Announced (With Excerpts and Bonus Links)

October 10, 2012 | 15 books mentioned 10

Award season is in full swing, and this year’s National Book Award finalists have just been announced on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”. After two years in a row of the fiction finalists numbering four women versus one male author, the gender count is reversed this time. The list also includes some very well-known names (Junot Dí­az, fresh off his Genius Grant, is a previous Pulitzer winner; Dave Eggers is a former Pulitzer finalist; and Louse Erdrich is a former NBCC Award winner). This is something of a departure from the more obscure focus of recent years.

In nonfiction, Anthony Shadid got a posthumous nod after he dies while reporting from Syria.

Here’s a list of the finalists in all four categories with bonus links and excerpts where available:

Fiction:

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Nonfiction:

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Poetry:

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Young People’s Literature:

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created The Millions and is its publisher. He and his family live in New Jersey.