Rachel Kushner

PEN has witnessed some strong internal opposition and argument over the decision of the PEN America Center to award its Freedom of Expression Courage Award to Charlie Hebdo, after the attacks in Paris. Six writers, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Peter Carey, and Taiye Selasi, declined to attend the associated gala over […]

The post PEN decides “Je suis Charlie” – but some authors don’t appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

Noted in NPR's Thursday, November 21 report on the National Book Award winners was that "a visibly shocked (James) McBride accepted the fiction prize. Considered the clear underdog, he said he wouldn't have minded if any of the other finalists won because they 'are all fine writers.'"

McBride's novel The Good Lord Bird is about a young slave (delightfully named 'Little Onion') who joins the abolitionist John Brown in his anti-slavery mission.

The National Book Foundation presents the 2013 National Book Award Finalists in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Young People's Literature.