Five Authors of Color Among National Book Award Finalists

The awards will be announced on November 20.

By Jamilah King Oct 16, 2013

Five authors of color are among this year’s finalists for the National Book Awards. The list includes: Jhumpa Lahiri ("The Lowland")  and James McBride ("The Good Lord Bird") for fiction; Adrian Matejka ("The Big Smoke") for poetry; and  Cynthia Kadohata ("The Thing About Luck") and Gene Luen Yang ("Boxers & Saints") in young people’s literature.

Historian Alan Taylor’s book about slavery in Virginia is also up for a non-fiction award. 

The awards will be announced in New York City on November 20. Head over to the National Book Awards’ site to see a full list of the finalists