Every so often, I am startled by the ubiquity of Brits in contemporary American culture. For instance, it seems that everywhere you look onscreen, there is a British actor providing the definitive interpretation of an American archetype: Henry Cavill - Superman. Carey Mulligan - Daisy Buchanan. Damien Lewis - Nicholas Brody of Homeland and Richard Winters in Band of Brothers. Dominic West - Jimmy McNulty in The Wire.
And that influence continues apace, as American literary organizations begin to model their award structure on the British. The typical UK literary jury has long been a mixed bag: an actor here, a bookseller there, an author or two or three, perhaps a literary critic to add spice. They typically choose a longlist of 15+ books, a shortlist of 5+ books, and a winner. This makes for a lot of attention to lots of books. Readers love it.
The U.S. literary community, eager to promote books as well as bolster literary quality, is coming around to this expansive British approach. The venerable National Book Award Foundation is expanding its jury membership and instituting a longlist and shortlist. We'll have to wait until September for their choices. The newly-instituted American Library Association Andrew Carnegie Medals for Fiction and Nonfiction takes its longlist quite seriously (50 titles!), but is ruthless about winnowing it down to a very modest shortlist (3 titles in each category). The ALA award announcement is on June 30.
As we wait, we can review the work of the jury for the Women's Prize for Fiction, which has announced its longlist and its shortlist , and will let us know on June 5 which book published in 2012 was the best example of "excellence, originality, and accessibility in women's writing from throughout the world".
Enjoy!
mhd
