Where’s the Hype for U.S. Book Awards?

By Staff

It’s book awards season again, and C. Max Magee, contributor to the book blog the Millions, laments that U.S. book awards like the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize do little to excite the reading public the way the Booker Prize does in the United Kingdom. In the U.K., the Booker shortlist furnishes an instant reading list and creates enough buzz that bookies take bets on the winners. U.S. awards, on the other hand, measure up to little more than promotional stickers on book covers.

If U.S. book awards better marketed their winners–or if the Pulitzer adopted a shortlist, as Magee suggests–would it rouse Americans out of their literary coma?–Eric Kelsey

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