I’m Daniella Snyder, a first-year graduate student at Villanova University, and your newest ‘Cat in Falvey Library’s Stacks. I’ll be posting about academics– from research to study habits and everything in between– and how the Falvey Library can play a large role in your success here on campus!

Hey Wildcats! Today’s an important day for book lovers. Tonight, the 2018 National Book Award winners will be announced! Presented by the National Book Foundation, their goal is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture. The five finalists in each category were selected by a panel of distinguished literary experts. This year alone, there were over 1,600 submissions. 

This week, check out some of the finalists Falvey has in the stacks or through Interlibrary Loan! Have you read any of the books on the list? Do they deserve a National Book Award? Let Falvey know! Comment below.

Finalists for Fiction:

Source: Amazon.

• Jamel Brinkley, A Lucky Man
  Graywolf Press
• Lauren Groff, Florida
  Riverhead Books / Penguin Random House
• Brandon Hobson, Where the Dead Sit Talking
  Soho Press
• Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers
  Viking Books / Penguin Random House
• Sigrid Nunez, The Friend
  Riverhead Books / Penguin Random House

Finalists for Nonfiction:

Source: Amazon.

• Colin G. Calloway, The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation
  Oxford University Press
• Victoria Johnson, American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic
  Liveright / W. W. Norton & Company
• Sarah Smarsh, Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
  Scribner / Simon & Schuster
• Jeffrey C. Stewart, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke
  Oxford University Press
• Adam Winkler,  We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights
  Liveright / W. W. Norton & Company

Finalists for Poetry:

Source: Amazon.

• Rae Armantrout, Wobble
  Wesleyan University Press
• Terrance Hayes, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
  Penguin Books / Penguin Random House
• Diana Khoi Nguyen, Ghost Of
  Omnidawn Publishing
• Justin Phillip Reed, Indecency
  Coffee House Press
• Jenny Xie, Eye Level
  Graywolf Press

Finalists for Translated Literature:

Source: Archipelago Books.

• Négar Djavadi, Disoriental
  Translated by Tina Kover
  Europa Editions
• Hanne Ørstavik, Love
  Translated by Martin Aitken
  Archipelago Books
• Domenico Starnone, Trick
  Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri
  Europa Editions
• Yoko Tawada, The Emissary
  Translated by Margaret Mitsutani
  New Directions Publishing
• Olga Tokarczuk, Flights
  Translated by Jennifer Croft
  Riverhead Books / Penguin Random House

Finalists for Young People’s Literature:

Source: Amazon.

• Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X
  HarperTeen / HarperCollins Publishers
• M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin, The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge
  Candlewick Press
• Leslie Connor, The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle
  Katherine Tegen Books / HarperCollins Publishers
• Christopher Paul Curtis, The Journey of Little Charlie
  Scholastic Press / Scholastic, Inc.
• Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Hey, Kiddo
  Graphix / Scholastic, Inc.