The winners of the 2023 Southern Book Prize, honoring "the best Southern book of the year" as nominated by Southern indie booksellers and voted on by their customers, have been announced by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance:
Fiction
Lark Ascending by Silas House (Algonquin Books)
"The urgency of the opening chapters is breathtaking, and then the source of it is laid bare: this is the imagined not-so-distant future resulting from the chaos and painful transformational change similar to what we're going through right now in our world. A haunting story, one that makes you really think about the trajectory of our collective lives." --Cathy Graham, Copperfish Books, Punta Gorda, Fla.
Nonfiction
Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott (Atria)
"It's more tempting than ever to want to build a bomb shelter and retreat from the upheavals of life. But with this memoir, Mary Laura Philpott convinces us that, like Frank the turtle, we have to poke our heads out from time to time, confront the challenges, and keep going." --Lady Smith, Snail on the Wall, Huntsville, Ala.
Children's
Nigel and the Moon by Antwan Eady, illustrated by Gracey King (Katherine Tegen Books)
"Nigel and the Moon will make your heart swell in the best way! Sure to be a beloved book, Nigel's story resonates deeply with those who are scared to share their dreams." --Lauren Kean, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, N.C.
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A shortlist has been released for the £4,000 (about $4,870) Wingate Literary Prize, which honors "the best book, fiction or nonfiction, to translate the idea of Jewishness to the general reader." The winner will be named March 12. This year's shortlisted titles are:
The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land by Omer Friedlander
Come to this Court and Cry by Linda Kinstler
The Island of Extraordinary Captives by Simon Parkin
The Memory Monster by Yishai Sarid, translated by Yardenne Greenspan
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
In the Midst of Civilized Europe by Jeffrey Veidlinger
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin