Barnes & Noble Announces Finalists for the 25th Annual Discover Great New Writers® Awards
Winners of the 2015 Discover Great New Writers Awards to Be Announced
at a Special Ceremony in New York City on Wednesday, March 2
Prize Pool for Winning Writers and Finalists Increases to More Than
$100,000 with Winners Receiving a Year of Promotion from Barnes & Noble
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the nation’s largest retail
bookseller and a leading retailer of content, digital media and
educational products, today announced the six finalists for its
prestigious 2015 Discover Great New Writers Awards. The Discover Great
New Writers program, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2015,
recognizes great fiction and nonfiction books from authors at the start
of their careers. Since 1990, the program has introduced readers to more
than 1,800 extraordinary literary talents, many of whom have gone on to
become household names, including Gillian Flynn, Khaled Hosseini,
Cheryl Strayed and many more.
The six winners of the Discover Great New Writers Awards will share a
cash prize totaling $105,000 and be announced on Wednesday, March 2, at
a private awards ceremony in New York City. The top winners in each
category, fiction and nonfiction, will receive a $30,000 prize and a
full year of promotion from Barnes & Noble. Second-place finalists will
receive $15,000, and third-place finalists $7,500.
The finalists for the 2015 Discover Great New Writers Awards are:
Fiction:
In the Country: Stories by Mia Alvar (Alfred A. Knopf):
Exiled overseas and tethered to family mythologies, the characters in
this sublime collection of short stories all share one thing: a profound
dislocation from the things and people they love most in this debut.
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy (Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt): Thirteen siblings come together to decide the fate of the
family home in East Detroit. This powerful debut was also a finalist for
the 2015 National Book Award.
The Unfortunates by Sophie McManus (Farrar, Straus and
Giroux): Secrets and lies, money and power; a family’s past collides
with its present in this ambitious debut novel.
Nonfiction:
Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by
Amy Ellis Nutt (Random House): This is not only the powerful story
of what the Maines’ family experiences when they acknowledge that one of
their twin sons is a girl, but also a heartwarming and inspiring call to
understand and celebrate the uniqueness in us all.
Bettyville by George Hodgman (Viking): Many face
caring for elderly parents, but only a rare few could tell this story
with the aplomb and honesty of this sharp, insightful—and often very
funny—memoir from a middle aged ex-New Yorker caring for his elderly
mother in their small Missouri hometown.
Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill
Leovy (Random House): This steely examination of American society
chronicles the commission, investigation and aftermath of a single
murder. It quickly became a critically-acclaimed bestseller in 2015.
Books by the finalists can be purchased at any Barnes & Noble store,
online at Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com/discover)
or instantly downloaded on any NOOK® eReader or tablet.
The Judges
Two panels of distinguished literary judges selected the finalists and
will also select the winners.
Serving as this year’s fiction judges are:
Eleanor Brown, author of The Weird Sisters, a New
York Times and international bestseller and a Discover Great New
Writers selection. Her second novel, The Light of Paris,
will be published by Putnam Books in 2016.
Ben Fountain, winner of the Discover Award (fiction) for Brief
Encounters with Che Guevara and a finalist for the 2006 National
Book Award for Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, soon to be
a film by Ang Lee.
Thrity Umrigar, bestselling author of six novels and a memoir,
including The Space Between Us and The Story Hour.
She is the Armington Professor of English at Case Western Reserve
University.
This year’s nonfiction judges are:
Scott Anderson, a veteran war correspondent and the author of
five books, most recently the national bestseller Lawrence in
Arabia. A frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine,
his work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, Esquire, Harper’s
and Outside.
Candice Millard, author of two New York Times’
bestsellers, The River of Doubt, which was also a Discover
Great New Writers selection, and Destiny of the Republic.
Cheryl Strayed, author of four books, including Wild,
a #1 New York Times bestseller and winner of the Discover Award
(non-fiction), and the New York Times’ bestsellers Tiny
Beautiful Things and Brave Enough. Her books have
been translated into 40 languages around the world.
Books by the judges can be purchased at any Barnes & Noble store, online
at Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com/discover)
or instantly downloaded on any NOOK® eReader or tablet.
The Discover Awards
Throughout its rich 25-year history, The Discover Great New Writers
program has connected readers with books that are special, surprising,
and a little off the beaten path, which they may have otherwise missed.
In addition to helping customers find their next great read, the program
has helped many emerging authors find their audience.
The Discover program’s selection committee is comprised of Barnes &
Noble booksellers from across the company and around the country. They
are voracious readers who meet weekly throughout the year to look for
compelling voices, extraordinary writing, and indelible stories from
literary talents at the start of their careers.
Forty-six books were handpicked for the program in 2015 from the 1,000+
submissions from publishers of all sizes, and from these, the judges
select the short list and the winners of the Discover Awards.
Past winners of the annual Discover Great New Writers Award include Evie
Wyld for All the Birds, Singing and Bryce Andrews
for Badluck Way (both 2014), Anthony Marra for A
Constellation of Vital Phenomena and Justin St. Germain
for Son of a Gun (both 2013), Amanda Coplin for The
Orchardist (2012), Joshua Ferris for Then We Came
to the End (2007), Ben Fountain for Brief
Encounters with Che Guevara (2006), Alison Smith for Name
All the Animals (2004), Anthony Doerr for The Shell
Collector (2002), Hampton Sides for Ghost Soldiers
(2001), Elizabeth McCracken for The Giant’s House (1996),
and Chang-rae Lee for Native Speaker (1995).
For more information on the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers
program, please visit www.bn.com/discover
or ask one of the knowledgeable booksellers at Barnes & Noble’s 640
stores nationwide.
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
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Contacts
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Mary Ellen Keating
Senior Vice
President
Corporate Communications
(212) 633-3323
mkeating@bn.com
or
Alan
McNamara
Director
Corporate Communications
212-633-3379
amcnamara@bn.com
