The winners of the New England Book Awards, sponsored by the New England Independent Booksellers Association, were announced and celebrated during the association's fall conference last week:
Fiction: Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty (Tin House)
Poetry: Such Color: New and Selected Poems by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf Press)
Nonfiction: Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional by Isaac Fitzgerald (Bloomsbury)
Children's: Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun's Thanksgiving Story by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry and Alexis Bunten, illustrated by Garry Meeches Sr. (Charlesbridge)
Middle Grade: Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
Young Adult: Squire by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh, illustrated by Sara Alfageeh (Quill Tree Books)
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Barnes & Noble released the shortlist for its new Discover Prize, which "celebrates the very best new authors, elevating the joy of spotting fresh voices early on in their careers.... In an extremely exciting publishing year, B&N booksellers across the country have been reading hundreds of debut authors to narrow down to the six books that make up the shortlist."
In the coming weeks, these six titles will be voted on by B&N booksellers, and the Discover Prize winner will be named October 12 during a live event hosted in the bookseller's flagship store in Union Square. The shortlisted titles are:
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy