NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Percival Everett's 鈥淛ames,鈥 his acclaimed retelling of Mark Twain's 鈥淭he Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,鈥 is a fiction nominee for the National Book Awards. The long list of 10 also includes Rachel Kushner's innovative thriller, 鈥淐reation Lake,鈥 and novelist-filmmaker Miranda July's exploration of middle age, 鈥淎ll Fours.鈥
released the fiction list Friday, capping a week of announcements in five competitive categories 鈥 fiction, Judges will narrow the lists to five on Oct. 1, and winners will be announced Nov. 20 during a dinner ceremony in Manhattan, when honorary prizes will be presented to and publisher-activist Paul Coates.
Two story collections are on the fiction list, Pemi Aguda's 鈥淕hostroots" and Tony Tulathimutte鈥檚 鈥淩ejection," and three debut novels, Kaveh Akbar's 鈥淢artyr!,鈥 Karla Cornejo Villavicencio鈥檚 鈥淐atalina" and Sam Sax鈥檚 鈥淵r Dead," which takes place in part outside of Trump Tower in Manhattan. The other fiction nominees are Jessica Anthony's 鈥淭he Most鈥 and Hisham Matar's 鈥淢y Friends."
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press