The prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction was awarded to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, it was announced last month. Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon won for nonfiction; The Passage of Power, the fourth volume in Robert A. Caro’s study on Lyndon B. Johnson, won for biography; Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton took home the award for autobiography; Stranger Magic by Marina Warner for criticism; and D.A. Powell’s collection Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys won the poetry prize.

The only winners in attendance were Andrew Solomon and Ben Fountain. “I really wanted to write a book about love,” said Solomon upon accepting the award, thanking his editors at the publishing company Scribner. Far from the Tree, a gigantic tome of a work, examines how parents raise children very different from themselves—such as those who are deaf or autistic. Solomon has previously won the National Book Award for his work The Noonday Demon.

Strange Magic by Marina Warner examines the Arabian Nights and how studies of it have evolved over centuries.

Useless Landscape is D.A. Powell’s fifth book of poetry. It deals with topics ranging from Disneyland to the 1970s dance scene.

Caro’s long and intense study of Lyndon B. Johnson has already garnered numerous awards, with past volumes winning Pulitzers, a National Book Critics Circle Award and earlier National Book Awards. The Passage of Power focuses on Johnson’s vice-presidency and presidency up to 1964.

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk was previously a finalist for the National Book Award and is a likely candidate for the upcoming Pulitzer Prize. Taking place one Thanksgiving Day, the novel centers around eight soldiers and their tour through the Iraq war.

Past winners of the fiction award include John Updike and Jennifer Egan, and helped propel Toni Morrison and Jonathan Lethem to the forefront of literature. The award is unique among American book prizes in that finalists and winners do not have to be American citizens. Foreign writers such as W.G. Sebald and Roberto Bolano have the award to thank for much of their popularity in America.

Not too long after that announcement, the winner of the 33^rd PEN/Faulkner Award was also announced. Benjamin Alire Saenz won for his collections of short stories, Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club. The other finalists were Threats by Amelia Gray, Kind One by Laird Hunt, Hold it ‘Til it Hurts by T. Geronimo Johnson, and Watergate by Thomas Mallon.

Interestingly, all of the nominees were notably obscure, with none of them receiving nominations for other awards or appearing much in the media’s “Best Of” lists.

Past winners include Mao II by Don DeLillo, The Hours by Michael Cunningham and The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. Notably, Philip Roth has won three PEN/Faulkner Awards for his novels Operation Shylock, The Human Stain and Everyman.

Finalists receive $5,000 and Mr. Saenz will take home $15,000. The award is to be presented officially on May 4 in Washington DC.

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Louise Erdrich joined the ranks of authors such as William Faulkner, Saul Bellow, and John Updike late November 14, when it was announced that her book, “The Roundhouse,” had won the National Book Award for Fiction. The novel is about a young teenage boy on a Native American reservation struggling to come to terms with racial injustice. Erdrich, herself part Native American, started off her acceptance speech in her Native American language before continuing in English.

Said Erdrich: “This is a book about a huge case of injustice ongoing on reservations. Thank you for giving it a wider audience.”

The other fiction nominees this year were “This is How You Lose Her,” by Junot Diaz, “A Hologram for the King,” by Dave Eggers, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” by Ben Fountain, and “The Yellow Birds,” the debut work of Kevin Powers. Although the National Book Award usually favors obscure writers, this year showed a remarkable number of heavyweights among the finalists. Diaz received a MacArthur Genius Grant this past year for his work, while both Eggers and Erdrich have received Pulitzer prize nominations before.

The non-fiction category was no less competitive, with Pulitzer prize winning journalists included in the pack. Ultimately Katherine Boo won the award with her searing examination of life in the slums of Mumbai, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity.”

William Alexander won in the Young People’s Literature category for “Goblin Secrets” and David Ferry was awarded the poetry prize for his “Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations.” Ferry, 88, thought he had a decent chance at winning, if for no other reason than he was so much older than the other nominees, meaning this might be his last chance to win. “My only hope was a preposterous pre-posthumous award,” he said, “and I guess that is what I have won here.”

Winners receive $10,000 and a bronze statuette for the prize. Judges this year read over 1,300 books prior to deciding on finalists.

Elmore Leonard won the award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, an award honoring lifetime achievement that has previously gone to writers as diverse as Toni Morrison and Stephen King. Summing up, he said, “I am energized by this honor. The only thing I’ve ever wanted to do in my life is tell stories, and this award tells me I am still good at it.”

The National Book Award has catapulted writers such as Don DeLillo and Cormac McCarthy out of obscurity and into popular authors. It is not uncommon to see finalists for the National Book Award go on to win other prizes. Could this be just the beginning for Erdrich?

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