Ranking the Pushcart Prize Pubs

NBCC member Cliff Garstang ranks the winners and Special Mentions in this years' Pushcart Prize anthology, just out.

Pushcart founder Bill Henderson, winner of an NBCC Sandrof award for lifetime achievement, will be with us on Saturday night, January 24, 2009, at Housing Works, to announce the NBCC Sandrof award winner. Others expected, to announce the Balakian winner and NBCC awards finalists: Sam Anderson, 2008 Balakian winner;Mary Jo Bang, 2008 poetry winner; Harriet Washington, 2008 nonfiction winner; Alex Ross, 2008 criticism winner, and Joshua Clark, 2008 finalist in autobiography.

Google Zeitgeist Year-end List

Google now offers a magazine search function. Which reminded us to check out the year-end global top 10 list of the billions of Google searches over the past year, which starts off like this:

1.sarah palin
2.beijing 2008
3.facebook login
4.tuenti
5.heath ledger

(Tuenti? Spanish Facebook.)

Nobelist Le Clezio to Publishers: "The Book Is the Ideal Tool"

Jean-Marie Gustave LeClezio, who delivered this lecture upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature earlier this week, focused in part on the importance of the book:

"There is a great deal of talk about globalization these days. People forget that in fact the phenomenon began in Europe during the Renaissance, with the beginnings of the colonial era. Globalization is not a bad thing in and of itself. Communication has accelerated progress in medicine and in science. Perhaps the generalization of information will help to forestall conflicts. Who knows, if the Internet had existed at the time, perhaps Hitler's criminal plot would not have succeeded—ridicule might have prevented it from ever seeing the light of day.

"We live in the era of the Internet and virtual communication. This is a good thing, but what would these astonishing inventions be worth, were it not for the teachings of written language and books? To provide nearly everyone on the planet with a liquid crystal display is utopian. Are we not, therefore, in the process of creating a new elite, of drawing a new line to divide the world between those who have access to communication and knowledge, and those who are left out? Great nations, great civilizations have vanished because they failed to realize that this could happen. To be sure, there are great cultures, considered to be in a minority, who have been able to resist until this day, thanks to the oral transmission of knowledge and myths. It is indispensable, and beneficial, to acknowledge the contribution of these cultures. But whether we like it or not, even if we have not yet attained the age of reality, we are no longer living in the age of myths. It is not possible to provide a foundation for equality and the respect of others unless each child receives the benefits of writing.

"And now, in this era following decolonization, literature has become a way for the men and women in our time to express their identity, to claim their right to speak, and to be heard in all their diversity. Without their voices, their call, we would live in a world of silence.

"Culture on a global scale concerns us all. But it is above all the responsibility of readers—of publishers, in other words. True, it is unjust that an Indian from the far north of Canada, if he wishes to be heard, must write in the language of the conquerors—in French, or in English. True, it is an illusion to expect that the Creole language of Mauritius or the West Indies might be heard as easily around the world as the five or six languages that reign today as absolute monarchs over the media. But if, through translation, their voices can be heard, then something new is happening, a cause for optimism. Culture, as I have said, belongs to us all, to all humankind. But in order for this to be true, everyone must be given equal access to culture. The book, however old-fashioned it may be, is the ideal tool. It is practical, easy to handle, economical. It does not require any particular technological prowess, and keeps well in any climate. Its only flaw—and this is where I would like to address publishers in particular—is that in a great number of countries it is still very difficult to gain access to books. In Mauritius the price of a novel or a collection of poetry is equivalent to a sizeable portion of the family budget. In Africa, Southeast Asia, Mexico, or the South Sea Islands, books remain an inaccessible luxury. And yet remedies to this situation do exist. Joint publication with the developing countries, the establishment of funds for lending libraries and bookmobiles, and, overall, greater attention to requests from and works in so-called minority languages—which are often clearly in the majority—would enable literature to continue to be this wonderful tool for self-knowledge, for the discovery of others, and for listening to the concert of humankind, in all the rich variety of its themes and modulations."

New American Editor of Granta: John Freeman

Recent NBCC president John Freeman has been named American Editor of Granta, the British magazine of new writing originally founded in 1889 and revived in 1979 with Bill Buford as editor.Based in New York, he will work with Granta editor Alex Clark to develop a series of author events and to provide a connection between the magazine, US-based writers and Granta’s North American and Canadian readership.

And Winner #8, the Last Winner Is....

Claudia Cornejo of Hanover, NH, sent in the correct answer to the eighth and last installment of the NBCC/Paris Review "Name that Author" contest at 6:50 am EST: Elizabeth Bishop.

This was a squeaker. Nathan Chadwick of North Kansas City,Mo, hit the in-box with Elizabeth Bishop three minutes later, tied with Vikram Johri of New Delhi for second (Vikram was a winner earlier this week). Drew Smith of Austin was four minutes later. an Brady of the Literature Division of the NEA's The Big Read (we love The Big Read) logged in at 7:15 am. Annelise Finegan of Rochester was next, at 7:19 am EST. Author J.P. Smith was correct at 7:34 am EST. Nayyara Rahman was the last to reach us today, from Karachi Pakistan, around 3 pm EST, not long before posting this. Obviously Elizabeth Bishop fans span the globe.

The wrong answers included an intriguing one: Vladimir Nabokov.

Thanks to all who played these past few weeks, and to the authors and their interviewers for offering such rich material.

NBCC/Paris Review "Name that Author" Contest #8: The Finale

This week Critical Mass continues to publish excerpts from interviews with former National Book Critics Circle award winners and finalists included in the venerable Paris Review "Writers at Work" series; the third volume has just been published by Picador. The reader who first correctly identifies the author will be rewarded with a complete three-volume set of the collected Paris Review interviews. Send your answers to nationalbookcritics@gmail.com. Please put "Name that Author" in the subject header.

Here is the eighth and final installment. Which NBCC award winner/finalist had this to say when questioned by the Paris Review interviewer?

"As for readings, I gave a reading in 1947 at Wellesley College two months after my first book appeared. And I was sick for days ahead of time. Oh, it was absurd. And then I did one in Washington in ’49 and I was sick again and nobody could hear me. And then I didn’t give any for twenty-six years. I don’t mind reading now. I’ve gotten over my shyness a bit. I think teaching helps. I’ve noticed that teachers aren’t shy. They’re rather aggressive. They get to be, finally."

Send your answer to nationalbookcritics@gmail.com and please put "Name that Author" in the subject heading. And thanks to all for your guesses, accurate or not, over this past two weeks.

National Book Awards 2008

Announced tonight, winners of the National Book Awards:

Young People's Literature: Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic).

Poetry: Mark Doty, Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems (Harper Collins).

Nonfiction: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello (W.W. Norton & Co.).

Fiction: Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country (Modern Library).

And the #7 winner is....

Dawn Rennert of Concord, Mass. zipped into the winner's position with the correct answer to the seventh clue in the NBCC/Paris Review "Name that Author: contest--Joyce Carol Oates--first, at 5:23 am EST.

Runners up, with the correct answer: Drew Smith of Austin at 5:30 am EST; Gregg Barrios of San Antonio, at 5:32 am EST (what is it with this Texans!), Dennis Loney, Washington, D.C., at 6:00 am EST; Nathan Chadwick in Missouri, at 6:09 am EST; Vikram Johri emailing in from New Delhi at 6:29 am EST, and Sumita Mukherji, Arlington, Mass,6:18 am EST.

Last clue tomorrow!

NBCC/Paris Review "Name that Author" Contest #7

This week Critical Mass continues to publish excerpts from interviews with former National Book Critics Circle award winners and finalists included in the venerable Paris Review "Writers at Work" series; the third volume has just been published by Picador. The reader who first correctly identifies the author will be rewarded with a complete three-volume set of the collected Paris Review interviews. Send your answers to nationalbookcritics@gmail.com. Please put "Name that Author" in the subject header.

Here is the seventh installment. Which NBCC award winner/finalist had this to say when questioned by the Paris Review interviewer?

"My nature is orderly and observant and scrupulous, and deeply introverted, so life wherever I attempt it turns out to be claustral. Live like a bourgeois, Flaubert suggested, but I was living like that long before I came across Flaubert’s remark."

Send your answer to nationalbookcritics@gmail.com and please put "Name that Author" in the subject heading. And keep an eye out for the winners and the next clue.

Excerpts from Volumes 1 and 2 at Readerville.

Another Winner, #6

Vikram Johri, emailing from Delhi, India, was the first into the in-box with the correct answer--Alice Munro--at 4:46 am EST, making him the winner of this installment of the NBCC/Paris Review "Name that Author" contest.

Among the incorrect answers (one of which arrived at 4:42 am, making it the quickest answer, albeit wrong): Joyce Carol Oates, E. Annie Proulx, John Updike, Jane Smiley, Anita Brookner, Mary McCarthy, Harold Pinter, Richard Yates, and Jan Morris.

Gregg Barrios in San Antonio was first runner-up with the correct answer (Alice Munro), clocking in at 5:56 am EST with the correct answer, followed by Sumita Mukherji (at 6:31 am EST), (Drew Smith in Austin (6:38 am EST),Gary W Thomson in Omaha(6:44 am EST), Annelise Finegan in Rochester at 7:53 am EST, and Deb Fowler at 8:49 am EST.

Keep an eye out for the seventh installment tomorrow.

NBCC/Paris Review "Name that Author" Contest #6

This week Critical Mass continues to publish excerpts from interviews with former National Book Critics Circle award winners and finalists included in the venerable Paris Review "Writers at Work" series; the third volume has just been published by Picador. The reader who first correctly identifies the author will be rewarded with a complete three-volume set of the collected Paris Review interviews. Send your answers to nationalbookcritics@gmail.com. Please put "Name that Author" in the subject header.

Here is the sixth installment. Which NBCC award winner/finalist had this to say when questioned by the Paris Review interviewer?

"I lived in the suburbs…the men didn’t like you to talk, and the women didn’t like it either. Then I moved to more of a mixed suburb, not all young couples and I made great friends there. We talked about books and scandal and laughed at things like high-school girls. That’s something I’d like to write about and haven’t, that subversive society of young women, all keeping each other alive."

Send your answer to nationalbookcritics@gmail.com and please put "Name that Author" in the subject heading.