Although most of us are familiar with classic novels, modern authors are producing beautiful works that capture and exemplify difficult questions of our era. The canon of exceptional literature grows every year, and book prizes recognize, reward, and promote some of the best writers of our time.
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The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Less by Andrew Sean Greer explores the nature of love, loss, and growing older. The titular character, Arthur Less, travels around the world, and on his trip ruminates over his many life failures. The New York Times describes Greer’s prose as “lyrical,” and Pulitzer publishers say he “[raises] the curtain on our shared human comedy.”
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The National Book Awards
This year, The National Book Awards crowned The Friend by Sigrid Nunez as their winner. The novel focuses on a woman who becomes the caretaker of a mentor’s dog after he unexpectedly passes. Although initially wary of each other and in a precarious living situation, the dog and the novel’s main character experience intense grief as well as growth, bonding in the process.
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The Man Booker Prize for Fiction
This prize is awarded to full length novels written in English and published in the U.K. This year, the Man Booker Prize went to Milkman by Anna Burns. Chair of Judges Kwame Anthony Appiah says that Milkman, while immediately funny, shows the power of gossip and social pressure in close communities. It explores what it’s like for a society to exist in political crisis and how that can affect peoples’s personal lives.
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The Neustadt International Prize for Literature
Edwidge Danticat is the winner of the Neustadt prize in 2018. Her works examine how history continues to haunt the present. She often references Haiti and the Caribbean as she portrays immigrant life in New York City and Miami. Her works include The Farming of Bones; Breath, Eyes, Memory; and most recently, The Art of Death. The prize comes with an award of $50,000.
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The Hugo Awards
The Hugo Awards focus on science fiction and fantasy writing, with this year’s winner for Best Novel going to The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin. The book explores caste systems that exist on a Pangea-esque continent called “The Stillness.” The Hugo Awards also recognize categories such as Best Short Story, which went to “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™” by Rebecca Roanhorse, as well as Best Graphic Story, which went to Monstress, Volume 2: The Blood.
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Women’s Prize For Fiction
This honor goes to female authors who write full length novels, and this year, Kamila Shamsie took home the award for her novel Home Fire. She’s a Pakistani-British writer who explores Muslim identity and safety in the U.K. Home Fire grapples with class, romance, and religion when a politician comes into the lives of the novel’s main characters.
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