National Book Awards

The National Book Awards tried to glam things up, with mixed results. 

Narciso Rodriguez told us about Michelle Obama's controversial Election Night dress at the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards. 

We caught up with the MisShapes at Christian Siriano's birthday party at Citrine. 

At the re-dedication of the Bridge Formerly Known as Triborough, we discovered that Nancy Pelosi isn't one for frivolous questions (but Martha Stewart is!).   read more »

At around 1 o'clock Thursday morning, Morgan Entrekin decided it was time to extract himself from the dance floor at Socialista and head home. "I'm having an excellent time!" he said, half empty beer in hand. "I wish I were 20 years younger! I could dance all night."

The reason he couldn't: "I have a 3-year-old! I'm tired, man. I'm old."

Mr. Entrekin used to party. Hasn't in a while. Mostly focused now on running his publishing house, Grove/Atlantic, and hanging with the wife and their little boy.

He seems genuinely fulfilled, a fact he was forced to forget last night when his colleagues in the publishing industry turned to him to reinvigorate the annual dinner known as the National Book Awards and make it fun again.  read more »

Two weeks after their homegrown debut author Salvatore Scibona was nominated for the National Book Award in fiction, Minnesota-based Graywolf Press, which Ben Westhoff of The Minneapolis City Pages recently praised as "one of the best" presses in America, has sold the paperback rights to his recently published novel, The End, to the Riverhead imprint of Penguin Group USA for less than $50,000.

Why did they do it? Wouldn't they have made a lot more money if they'd published the paperback edition themselves?

According to editorial director Katie Deblinski, it was not an easy decision, but it came down to the fact that Riverhead, a publisher with corporate resources and a proven track record with paperbacks, is better equipped to market the book now that its profile is so much greater than it was before the NBA nomination.  read more »

And now NBA nominees for non-fiction:

Drew Gilpin Faust, The Republic of Suffering (Knopf)

Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family(Norton)

Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals (Doubleday)

Jim Sheeler, Final Salute (Penguin Group)

Joan Wickersham, The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order (Harcourt)

Scott Turow, speaking at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, just now announced the National Book Awards fiction finalists:

Alexander Hemon, The Lazarus Project (Riverhead)

Rachel Kushner, Telex From Cuba (Scribner)

Peter Mathiessen, Shadow Country (Modern Library)

Marilynne Robinson, Home (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Salvatore Scibona, The End (Graywolf Press)

A surprising list. Several omissions are notable, but the absence of Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, which was also snubbed by the Man Booker Prize, is likely to be especially remarked upon today.

Tomorrow at noon we find out who the nominees are for this year's National Book Awards. Scott Turow's going to announce them from the stage of the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, but luckily for the folks watching at home, there's a handy live webcast streaming from the National Book Foundation Web site.

Like last year, there are four categories—Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Children's literature—with five nominees in each. Bios for the judges here.

Leave your predictions in the comments, if that's your sort of thing.

The National Book Foundation has released videos from the National Book Awards (hosted by Fran Liebowitz!) Here's Fran introducing Hours novelist Michael Cunningham, who presents an award to Joan Didion after introducing her with a little speech. Afterwards you can go watch your Chris Crocker or Jacob Lodwick video or whatever. Merry stinkin' Christmas, ingrates!