With the 60th annual National Book Awards just four months away, the National Book Foundation has started looking back at all 77 winners of the fiction prizes, from 1950’s The Man With the Golden Arm to 2008’s Shadow Country. (There were a few years where multiple awards were presented, including eight in 1980.)
The blog posts will be written by several authors and book lovers—one of last year’s fiction nominees, Rachel Kushner, wrote one of the two appreciations of The Man With the Golden Arm that launched the series yesterday. The other came from the foundation’s executive director, Harold Augenbraum, who will be making several appearances over the next two months. We’re also looking forward to contributions from established stars like Jonathan Lethem and Richard Rhodes, rising talents like Joshua Ferris and Fiona Maazel, and online literati like Lauren Cerand and Chad Post. (Full disclosure: Senior editor Ron Hogan will also be taking part, while wearing his Beatrice.com hat.)
When the series wraps up on September 21, readers will be able to vote on the best of the best, and somebody could even win two tickets to this year’s ceremony.