 First edition cover | |
| Author | Jason Mott |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Dutton |
Publication date | 2021 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 323 pp |
| ISBN | 978-0593330999 |
Hell of a Book [lower-alpha 1] is a 2021 book by Jason Mott. It won the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction.
In alternating chapters, the novel tells the stories of two different characters: a nameless novelist on tour for a book also titled Hell of a Book, and an African-American child named Soot. Soot, who lives near Whiteville, North Carolina, is being bullied on the school bus, while the novelist is troubled by visions of a child he calls "The Kid", who speaks to him and seemingly guides him through his issues.
The Star-News said that with the novel, Mott earned "a place on the shelf beside such African-American writers as Colson Whitehead and Octavia Butler". [1]
On November 17, 2021, the novel was awarded the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction. [2] It was also longlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, [3] the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize, [4] and the 2022 Joyce Carol Oates Prize. [5]
Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
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Laila Lalami is a Moroccan-American novelist, essayist, and professor. After earning her licence ès lettres degree in Morocco, she received a fellowship to study in the United Kingdom (UK), where she earned an MA in linguistics.
Blonde is a 2000 biographical fiction novel by Joyce Carol Oates that presents a fictionalized take on the life of American actress Marilyn Monroe. Oates insists that the novel is a work of fiction that should not be regarded as a biography. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (2001) and the National Book Award (2000). Rocky Mountain News and Entertainment Weekly have listed Blonde as one of Joyce Carol Oates's best books. Oates regards Blonde as one of the two books she will be remembered for.
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The Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize is an annual award presented by the New Literary Project to recognize mid-career writers of fiction. "Mid-career writer" is defined by the project as "an author who has published at least two notable books of fiction, and who has yet to receive capstone recognition such as a Pulitzer or a MacArthur." The prize, which carries a monetary award of $50,000, was established in 2017 and is administered by the New Literary Project, a collaboration of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation of Lafayette, California and the Department of English of the University of California, Berkeley.
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Bewilderment is a 2021 novel by Richard Powers, published on September 21, 2021, by W. W. Norton & Company. It is Powers' thirteenth novel, his first since winning the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Overstory (2018).
The Other Americans is a mystery novel written by Moroccan American novelist Laila Lalami. The novel was published in 2019 by Pantheon Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Jason Mott is an American novelist and poet. His fourth novel, Hell of a Book, won the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction.
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The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a 2021 historical fiction novel by Dawnie Walton published by 37 Ink. It received the 2022 Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award, the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize, and was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction.
Dawnie Walton is an American journalist and novelist. She is known for her novel, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, which won the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize, the 2022 Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award, and was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.
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