2011 National Book Award Winners And Giller Prize Winner

The National Book Award Winners were recently announced of the four winners three were female authors of color.

Jesymn Ward for Salvage the Bones (Fiction)
Nikkey Finney for Head off & Spilt (Poetry)
Thanhha Lai for Inside Out & Back Again (Young People's Lit)

Esi Edugyan, was the winner of the 2011 Giller Prize (a distinguished Canadian literary award) for Half Blood Blues. The novel was also shorlisted for Man Booker Prize. Unfortunately it won't be available in the States until March though if you can't wait you buy it now via amazon uk.

Much congratulations to Ward, Finney, Lai and Edugyan This congratulatory post is a tad late and I'd to look at it as more of a strategic delay as opposed to being too busy. I am anxiously awaiting the release of all the best of list for this year. If they are lacking in female authors of color I will be very dissappointed and will revisit this post to cheer me up and this one.

Vote For Silver Sparrow And Congratulations to Jesmyn Ward

Tayari Jones novel Silver Sparrow has made it the semifinals round of Goodreads Choice Awards for Best fiction as a write in. If you loved Silver Sparrow and you haven't done so already head over to Goodreads to vote for it and please spread the word. If you are not a goodreads member it takes five seconds to join. Voting for the Semifinal round ends on November 20th.

The 2011 National Book Award winners were recently announced. Jesmyn Ward was awarded the NBA for fiction for her novel Salvage the Bones. Congratulations to Ward, Salvage the Bones is a wonderful story and this is well deserved recognition

Thoughts on Heidi W. Durrow's The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

Heidi W. Durrow

256 pages

Publication Year: 2010

Publisher: Algonquin

Source: Bought it

It’s a funny thing to think about: moving toward extinction. And I think of how maybe I’m already extinct in a strange way – there’s no way to make another me: at least I can’t do it. But that doesn’t matter anyway because I never want to have kids.

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky is the debut novel from Heidi W. Durrow. It’s also the winner of the Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, which was founded by Barbara Kingsolver.

The story tells the life of Rachel, the only survivor of tragic, mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of her three siblings and their mother. Rachel is also biracial, the daughter of a white Danish mother and African-American father. After the death of her family members, Rachel is sent to live with her paternal grandmother and has to learn how to navigate in a country where she’s considered black, something she didn’t think much about before. Told from the perspective of Rachel, her mother Nella, and those who knew her family, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is an engaging read of one girl’s struggle to live after the death of those she loved most.

This year I’m learning a lot about my reading. I’ve learned that I don’t read many books that feature:

· the elderly as protagonists

· mother-daughter relationships

· bi-racial characters

Where have I been? In today’s society with so many people being of several races and cultures, I can’t believe I’ve ignored this. Luckily reading this book brought it to my attention. As a young girl, not only does Rachel has to deal with everything that has happened, she also has to learn how to deal with so much attention to both who she is physically, her long fuzzy hair that makes girls in her class want to fight her, blue eyes, and light brown skin to who she is as a person, someone who loves to read and tries to understand what being black means in America during the 1980s.

The problem is that as interesting and engaging as the book was, I didn’t connect very well to Rachel. Readers understand this character through her words and interactions with others but it wasn’t enough.

I had the same problem with Rachel’s mother, Nella. Nella is a young Danish woman living in Europe when she meets Roger, an African-American man stationed at a nearby base. They soon marry and have children before Nella leaves Roger and flees to the United States with their children. She struggles with everything before she finally makes a terrifying decision.

*spoiler spoiler I need to understand her decision with the same depth that I understood a similar decision in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. *spoiler over

Though I didn’t get the connection I needed, I still think this was an excellent read. My rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

This review was originally posted at 1330v.

Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
This is the story of a family in a small Mississippi town. Set 12 days before Hurricane Katrina hits. The story is told by Esch the lone female voice. Esch lives with her father and three brothers. The mother died giving birth to the youngest son. Ward's does an excellent job of building this families world. I understood where every character was coming from.

A large part of this story is the relationship Esch's older brother Skeetah has with his pit bull China. With Skeetah, Ward created a character that took part in dog fights that not only did I not dislike but cared very much for. One would have to read the novel to believe me but its obvious how much Skeetah loves China. There are moments when my heart broke watching Esch, wanting someone to love her as much as Skeetah does his dog. The family is preparing for coming hurricane but that is very much in the background. Esch voice captured me from the very beginning, there's such an honest beauty to it that I loved.

Esch is around 15 or 16 before reading Salvage the Bones, I thought it might have some YA crossover appeal. After reading it I know its true. Since it's fiction and not YA there is adult content. However, I truly appreciated how everything was a reflection of reality. The author doesn't feel the need to over do it with language or sex because the strength of the writing will entice and keep readers interest.

A 2011 National Book Award Finalists

An Unexpected Update

I know its been awhile for any post but I am in the mood for a quick unexpected update. Since it's late in the evening I will just freestyle it and see what happens.
A much belated and well deserved Congratulations to Jesmyn Ward, her novel Salvage the Bones was a 2011 National Book Award Finalist. I loved Salvage the Bones. The voice of Ward's main character Esch was perfect, at times I couldn't help comparing her to the young protagonists in Toni Morrison's Bluest Eye. I usually make it a point not to do Morrison comparison, its too much to live up to plus every author has their own unique style, but in this case I believe its warranted.

Congratulations to Nnedi Okorafor, her novel Who Fears Death won World Fantasy Award for best novel. Of the six nominees in this category, three, Okorafor, Jemisin and Lord were female authors of color. The final book in N.K. Jemisin, Inheritance trilogy, The Kingdom of Gods was released in October . I am all caught up with Okorafor and Jemisin, I love Who Fears Death and the Inheritance trilogy. I just haven't gotten around to reading Karen Lord's Redemption in Indigo, even though I've only heard great things about it. Once I read it I will probably be kicking myself for waiting so long to pick it up.


One last Congrats goes out to Danielle Evans, author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self for being selected as one of 5 author under 35 by The National Book Award Foundation. Evan's short story debut collection was ridiciously good. If you haven't read Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self you are seriously missing out. If you are avoiding it because you don't like short stories, trust me you'll like this collection. Evan's Color Online Interview

Though we are still in 2011, I already know The Whole Story Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani is a favorite middle grade debut of 2012, no I am not psychic but I do use netgalley. I usually don't mention books so far from the release date, but apparently I am doing a lot of things I usually don't do. (And ladies and gentlemen that there is the beauty of freestyle) But back to Hiranandani wonderful debut.

The main character Sonia is half Indian and Jewish, her father has lost his job. She must come to terms with the changes her family must make. One of the things I loved about this novel is how current it is, many readers will be able to relate to a parent being out of work. Sonia's father also suffers from depression. A mental illness that is still taboo amongst people of color and the author handles it with the care it deserves. This could've easily become an issues novel but Hiranandani doesn't allow that to happen, yet another reason why I enjoyed this debut so much.

Vasilly another contributor will be posting a Color Online Interview in the near future. I won't say who with but I am very very excited, and if this author isn't on some 2011 best of list I will be very very pissed.