Tiya Miles, Robert Jones Jr., are among the finalists for the National Book Awards, the Guardian reports.
The 25 finalists of the National Book Award cover five literary categories including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature.
Miles, who is a Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, is nominated in the non-fiction category for her book All That She Carried. The book tells the remarkable story of love and perseverance as a single object is passed down through generations of women who survive against insurmountable odds and changed their own narratives.
Jones Jr., an acclaimed essayist and cultural critic also known as the “Son of Baldwin,” is nominated in the fiction category for his debut novel The Prophets. The novel is a work of historical fiction that follows the relationship between two enslaved men, Isaiah and Samuel, as they explore their love for each other on a plantation in the Antebellum South.
According to National Book Award's website, “the mission of the National Book Foundation is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture.”
The 72nd National Book Awards ceremony will take place on November 17. As with last year, it will be held exclusively online.
