NEW YORK — Jason Mott’s “Hell of a Book,” a surreal meta-narrative about an author’s book and his haunted past and present, has won the National Book Award for fiction.
Tiya Miles’ “All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake” was the winner for nonfiction and Malinda Lo’s “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” won for young people’s literature.
The poetry prize was awarded to Martín Espada’s “Floaters,” and best translation went to Elisa Shua Dusapin’s “Winter in Sokcho,” translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins.
Each Wednesday evening’s winner in each of the competition categories will receive $10,000.
Two honorary awards were given: Karen Tei Yamashita, author and playwright, was awarded a medal for lifetime accomplishment for her Distinguished Contribution in American Letters. Nancy Pearl (author-librarian/NPR commentator) received the Literarian Award of Outstanding Service to America’s Literary Community.
