Feathering Their Nests

Although they aren’t exactly the Pulitzer Prizes, the annual Quill Book Awards have managed to gain something of a popular following, primarily because their presentation is televised in America.

There are 19 Quill categories, with the winners in each reportedly chosen by “more than 6,000 booksellers and librarians” on behalf of the Quill Foundation, a group of media organizations promoting literacy. Among this year’s victors, announced last night, are: The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield (Debut Author); The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (General Fiction); The Assault on Reason, by Al Gore (History/Current Events/Politics); What the Dead Know, by Laura Lippman (Mystery/Suspense/Thriller); and Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson (Biography/Memoir). The full list can be found here.

Winners will be presented with their prizes during a “gala awards ceremony” to be held on October 22 at New York City’s Lincoln Center, hosted by NBC Today show personalities Ann Curry and Al Roker. That ceremony will be televised by NBC stations on the night of Saturday, October 27.

In the meantime, readers are invited to cast their votes for which book among these 19 winners that they think deserves also to be named “The Book of the Year.” Register your choice here. Voting will close on October 10.

* * *

Speaking of literary commendations, California author Joan Didion, best known of recent date for having written the painful book-length essay The Year of Magical Thinking (2005), is to be given a Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters during the National Book Awards ceremony on November 14. During those same festivities, Terry Gross, executive producer and host of National Public Radio’s Fresh Air program, will receive the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.

These announcements come well in advance of the lists of finalists in four National Book Award categories -- fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people’s literature. Those selections won’t be made public until October 10.