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.