Finalists for the 2015 National Book Awards

The Washington Post has a great article on its website today about the five finalists for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature.

The winners will be announced November 18. The finalists include: Ali Benjamin for "The Thing About Jellyfish;" Laura Ruby for "Bone Gap;" Steve Sheinkin for "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War;" Neal Shusterman for "Challenger Deep;" and Noelle Stevenson for "Nimona."

The Post article goes into detail with information about each author and their work of literature.

Ali Benjamin, author of "The Thing About Jellyfish,"
 is one of five finalists for a National
Book Award in Young People's Literature.

Young People's Literature is just one of four categories included in the National Book Awards. The other categories, including finalists, are as follows:

FICTION:
- Karen E. Bender, "Refund"
- Angela Flournoy, "The Turner House"
- Lauren Groff, "Fates and Furies"
- Adam Johnson, "Fortune Smiles"
- Hanya Yanagihara, "A Little Life"

NONFICTION:
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, "Between the World and Me"
- Sally Mann, "Hold Still"
- Sy Montomgery, "The Soul of an Octopus"
- Carla Power, "If Oceans Were Ink"
- Tracy K. Smith, "Ordinary Light"

POETRY:
- Ross Gay, "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude"
- Terrance Hayes, "How to Be Drawn"
- Robin Coste Lewis, "Voyage of the Sable Venus"
- Ada Limon, "Bright Dead Things"
- Patrick Phillips, "Elegy for a Broken Machine"

Biographies for all finalists may be found in this official press release (in PDF format) from the National Book Foundation.

The National Book Foundation’s mission is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America. In addition to the National Book Awards, for which it is best known, the Foundation’s programs include 5 Under 35, a celebration of emerging fiction writers selected by former National Book Award Finalists and Winners; the National Book Awards Teen Press Conference, an opportunity for New York City students to interview the current National Book Award Finalists in Young People’s Literature; NBA on Campus, a partnership that brings National Book Award authors to colleges across the country; the Innovations in Reading Prize, awarded to individuals and institutions that have developed innovative means of creating and sustaining a lifelong love of reading; and BookUp, a writer-led, after-school reading program for middle-school students.

The National Book Award is one of the nation’s most prestigious literary prizes and has a stellar record of identifying and rewarding quality writing. In 1950, William Carlos Williams was the first Winner in Poetry, the following year William Faulkner was honored in Fiction, and so on through the years. Many previous Winners of a National Book Award are now firmly established in the canon of American literature, such as Sherman Alexie, Louise Erdrich, Jonathan Franzen, Denis Johnson, James McBride, Joyce Carol Oates, and Adrienne Rich.