Local Authors Bask in National Book Award Nominations

Today was a good day for four Washington writers who were announced as finalists for the National Book Award.

Christopher Hitchens’s God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and Tim Weiner’s Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA were nominated in the nonfiction category. M. Sindy Felin was nominated young people’s literature for her debut novel, Touching Snow, and University of Maryland professor Stanley Plumly got a nod in poetry for his collection Old Heart.

In the world of sports, there’s one major contest to crown the best team. But in literature there are the big three—the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics’ Circle Award, and the National Book Award.

Winning or even being nominated is a big deal. It means increased exposure and a nice sticker on the cover of your book—which often translates into increased sales. National Book Award winners will be announced November 14.

Drew Bratcher