Tess Gunty attends the 73rd National Book Awards at Wall Street Cipriani on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, in New York.
Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
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Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Tess Gunty attends the 73rd National Book Awards at Wall Street Cipriani on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, in New York.
Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
NEW YORK – Tess Gunty’s “The Rabbit Hutch,” a gripping debut novel set in a low-income housing community in Indiana, has won the National Book Award for Fiction. 30-year-old Gunty is among three writers nominated for their first published books.
Imani Perry’s “South to America” and Sabaa Tahir’s “All My Rage” won the non-fiction prize for youth literature. For poetry, John Keene was cited for “Punks: New and Selected Poems,” while Spanish-Argentine author Samanta Schweblin and translator Megan McDowell won best translation work for “Seven Empty Houses.”
Wednesday night winners each receive $10,000.
In his acceptance speech, Gunty cited recent remarks by poetry nominee Sharon Olds about the essential role literature plays in society. Gunty calls books a way to draw attention to things that are “forgotten” and unseen.
“Attention is the most sacred resource we have,” she says, calling books one of the last places “where we use the resource most freely and in need.”
“I think kindness will win,” she concluded. “That’s the point of this evening.”
History has been on the minds of many laureates, whether the Art Spiegelman honorary medalist refers to his parents who survived the Holocaust or to Imani Perry’s invoking ancestors who were ” blow” and “ammo”. Tahir tearfully revealed her background as Pakistani-American and Muslim, and dedicated her award to “Muslim sisters” around the world who are “fighting for their lives” surname”.
Several speakers mentioned the current wave of book bans and the threat to freedom of expression. Spiegelman, whose Holocaust-themed animated book “Maus” was pulled from shelves in Missouri and Tennessee this year, called some of his moderators “smart marketers” because of the controversy. Controversy about his work boosted sales. He then wondered if some educators simply preferred a “kinder, gentler Holocaust”.
The dinner benefit for the National Book Foundation, which awards the award, also includes an honorary award to Tracie D. Hall, executive director of the American Library Association. Hall recalls childhood trips with her grandmother to the local library in the Watts section of Los Angeles, a building she likened to a cathedral and the benefactor allowed her to borrow as many books as she could afford and grandma.
She then paid tribute to today’s librarians, who “in their efforts to fight censorship have sacrificed their jobs and livelihoods.”
It was the first time since 2019 – before the pandemic – that the event was held in person, and hundreds of people, barely wearing masks, gathered on Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan. “Top Chef” author/host Padma Lakshmi hosted the ceremony, which also featured tape-recorded introductions by Keanu Reeves, Alicia Keys and Jimmy Fallon to the nominees in the categories. compete.
Outside, HarperCollins’ strike workers handed out flyers and buttons – Lakshmi was among those wearing the union button – outlining their differences from the publisher in terms of wages, diversity and public security. union among other issues. About 250 low- and mid-level employees at HarperCollins, the only major New York publisher with a union, began the strike last week. No new negotiations are currently planned.
Perry, a HarperCollins author, did not directly mention the strike in her acceptance speech, but cited people “walking the line” as one of her inspirations. .
