A shortlist has been released for the Athenaeum Literary Award, which recognizes "books of outstanding literary merit by Philadelphia area authors, as well as books whose subject matter focuses on the city of Philadelphia through its Literary Award." The winners, who will be named April 7, receive $1,000 and an invitation to give a public lecture. This year's shortlisted titles are:
Fiction
Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg (Hogarth Press)
The Last Dekrepitzer by Howard Langer (Cresheim Press)
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books)
Nonfiction
William Bartram's Visual Wonders: The Drawings of an American Naturalist by Elizabeth Athens (University of Pittsburgh Press)
Sex with a Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery by Annie Liontas (Simon & Schuster)
To the Success of our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement by Benjamin Nathans (Princeton University Press)