First Place, Fiction
At once poignant and fiercely funny, poet and playwright Victor Lodato's debut novel tells the story of a young girl determined to find the key to the death of her older sister.
From the Judges
"In an era where so many voices speak purely to make profit or sense out of life, it is a refreshing deliverance to hear the voice of Mathilda Savitch, the adolescent narrator of Victor Lodato's fine novel, who seems purely to want to make beautiful trouble for herself. Her take on things is young, irrational, unexpected. When tragedy strikes and other characters choose mourning, Mathilda instead chooses -- then brandishes, then shines with -- a hilarious, heartbreaking humanity." -- David Schickler
"Taking on Holden Caulfield is a deadly mistake too many first novelists make. Victor Lodato overcomes the anxiety of influence to deliver line after weird, ecstatic line. Twisted and sad, yet thrilling, too." -- Stewart O'Nan
First Place, Nonfiction
Ten years in the making, Columbine is a masterful accounting by an award-winning journalist of one of the most shocking massacres in American history.
From the Judges
"This was my top pick from the moment I read it back in the summer, and it remained so, as it did everything I want in a book, and at a high level. It took a story that all Americans think we know, and then, by using meticulous research, a mesmerizing voice, a highly skilled use of non-chronological time, and characters so well-drawn they still come to mind every day, showed us that everything we thought we understood was wrong." -- Rachel Simon
"An extraordinary book. It vividly reconstructs the tragic events of April, 20, 1999, while at the same time opening up the inner lives of the people involved. Exquisitely structured and painstakingly researched, Columbine treats its subject matter with a compassionate scrutiny, and Dave Cullen holds a steady eye on both the blameless and the guilty in this intimate portrait of violence and community." -- Lee Martin
"A nuanced and fascinating account of the characters and events that surround the shootings at Columbine. This heart-stopping book allows one to examine the shootings from multiple angles, giving the reader a glimpse into a seemingly incomprehensible tragedy." -- Danielle Trussoni
Second Place, Fiction
More of This World or Maybe Anotherby Barb Johnson (Paperback)
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Johnson’s handful of characters cling to life on the edge in this heartrending collection of linked stories.
From the Judges
"When reading More of This World or Maybe Another, I could sense the sacrifices Barb Johnson must have made to earn the bone-deep truths she renders in her fiction. This debut is elemental, precise, and charged with ragged, intimate grace. As the collection's heroine Delia says to her lover, I would say to all readers: 'Come see.'" -- David Schickler
"Barb Johnson lovingly follows the changes in one New Orleans neighborhood, showing the reader her people's loves and losses equally." -- Stewart O'Nan
Second Place, Nonfiction
The Fourth Part of the Worldby Toby Lester (Hardcover)
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This epic tale of a groundbreaking map of the New World offers an omnivorous view of world history and geography.
From the Judges
"Ambitious in its artistry and reach, in The Fourth Part of the World, Toby Lester spins a fascinating tale that is as notable for its grace and originality as it is for how much it teaches us about exploration and cartography and the world we occupy." -- Lee Martin
"An intellectual treasure hunt filled with lost manuscripts, treacherous voyages, and delicious discoveries. One of the best books I have read in years." -- Danielle Trussoni
"A fascinating journey through maps, missions, and men from a time in history that I've barely thought about since college. I was surprised throughout, as I learned unfamiliar stories about what I'd thought were familiar figures. The way the whole book came together at the end was extraordinarily powerful." -- Rachel Simon
Third Place, Fiction
A young southern woman, who feels trapped in her new role as a farmer’s wife, grapples with the question of whether it is better to fight for freedom or submit to love in this unforgettable debut novel.
From the Judges
"In All the Living, C. E. Morgan summons up out of the tough Kentucky earth a young woman, Aloma, and her lover, Orren. Whether in bed, farm-work or argument, they are a stubborn human crop of two who tear into each other with voracity and veracity. Morgan has a gift for revealing all the bracingly fraught secrets of sex, love, and companionship. Memo to women: if you're ever stared at your man, feeling the conflicting urges to jump his bones or brain him with a frying pan, you need to read this book." -- David Schickler
"All the Living is that rare novel, at once universal and particular. C. E. Morgan reveals the struggle of conscious beings to seize pleasure in the face of mortality, to love and be loved -- to live before they die. Very young, unequal to the burdens they take on, Aloma and Orren become unwitting enemies to their own and each other's happiness. A stark vision of passion's tendency to smother identity, rendered with unusual grace by a writer who has accomplished more in 199 pages than many do in an entire career." -- Kathryn Harrison
"The hardscrabble tobacco farm life Morgan's heroine takes on provides an elemental background to the confusion -- the transports and fickleness -- of young love." -- Stewart O'Nan
Third Place, Nonfiction
In the Sanctuary of Outcastsby Neil White (Hardcover)
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A magazine publisher, charged with check-kiting, finds himself imprisoned in a facility that also houses lepers -- and tells about it in a book that goes where few of us otherwise would.
From the Judges
"A memorable story of the flawed and the maimed. With its vivid portraits of the prisoners and the people affected by Hansen's Disease with whom they share the Federal Medical Center in Carville, Louisiana, this book characterizes those who endure and those who heal. Neil White writes with an honesty and an elegance that lifts the human spirit. The gap between the blessed and the wounded is never as wide as we might like to imagine. In the Sanctuary of Outcasts brings us closer to our own humanity." -- Lee Martin
"Neil White has written an emotional account of personal disgrace and redemption that captures one's heart from the beginning and doesn't let go." -- Danielle Trussoni
"I was very caught up in this book. In addition to being informative and honest, I loved the narrative and the character arcs, as well as the voice. Neil White was likeable, not only because he seems naturally charming and curious, but because he moved beyond his denial and self-pity into a real acknow- ledgement of his actions." -- Rachel Simon
