The long list for the National Book Award is being rolled out this week, announced on the website of the New Yorker.
First up was young-adult literature, and first up was St. Paul writer Bryan Bliss, on the list for "We'll Fly Away." In our review, Star Tribune staff writer Trisha Collopy said Bliss' "gripping new novel" takes on family abuse, white poverty and the violence of the prison system, "a sharp portrait of two young men on the brink of adulthood." The long list for translated literature--a new category--will be announced later today. Here's the long list for young people's literature: Elizabeth Acevedo, "The Poet X," Harper Teen/Harper Collins.M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin, "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge." Candlewick.
Bryan Bliss, "We'll Fly Away." Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins Publishers
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.
Tahereh Mafi,"A Very Large Expanse of Sea." HarperTeen / HarperCollins Publishers
Joy McCullough, "Blood Water Paint." Dutton Children's Books / Penguin Random House
