It's "the Oscars of the book world."
Last night in New York City the 2013 winners of the National Book Awards were announced at a gala banquet.
Best novel was taken by James McBride for his novel about a slave in the John Brown rebellion just before the Civil War.
Jhumpa Lahiri was a finalist for her new novel The Lowland.
"Easy reading is damn hard writing," said Maya Angelou in a speech after being presented with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.
I can relate to that comment.
Angelou is now 85 and gets about in a wheelchair. I had the privilege of hearing her speak in 2009.
E. L. Doctorow also got an award and spoke of reading a book as "the essence of interactivity," even though "It's written in silence and read in silence."
If you haven't read him yet, try "A House on the Plains," which is available in The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction. If you like Alfred Hitchcock, you'll like this story.
Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, presented the award to Maya Angelou.
Wish I could have been there! These great writers won't be with us much longer. Morrison and Doctorow are 82.
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