Young people’s longlist announced for National Book Awards

Laurie Halse Anderson, Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander are among the 10 authors on the young people’s literature longlist for the National Book Awards. (Pixabay photo)

NEW YORK — Laurie Halse Anderson, Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander are among the 10 authors on the young people’s literature longlist for the National Book Awards.

The wide-ranging list, which includes graphic fiction, historical narratives and stories in verse, was announced Monday by the National Book Foundation, which presents the awards. Longlists for translations, poetry, nonfiction and fiction will be unveiled over the following four days

Anderson, best known for the million-selling “Speak,” was cited for “Shout,” a poetic memoir about surviving sexual assault. Alexander also used verse for “The Undefeated,” illustrated by Kadir Nelson and billed as a “love letter to black life in the United States.” Reynolds was nominated for “Look Both Ways,” 10 stories connected around what happens after school ends for the day.

Cynthia Kadohata, winner of the National Book Award in 2013 for “The Thing About Luck,” was nominated for “A Place to Belong,” about a displaced Japanese American family during World War II. Both books were illustrated by Julia Kuo.

Others on the longlist include the graphic novel “Kiss Number 8,” written by Colleen AF Venable and illustrated by Ellen T. Crenshaw; Hal Schrieve’s queer-trans zombie tale “Out of Salem,” Laura Ruby’s “Thirteen Doorways: Wolves Behind Them All” and Randy Ribay’s “Patron Saints of Nothing,” a novel centred on Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

The other nominees were Martin W. Sandler’s “1919: The Year That Changed America” and Akwaeke Emezi’s “Pet.”

The longlists will be narrowed to five nominees on Oct. 8. Winners will be announced Nov. 20.