Scorned National Book Award Hopeful Felt “Gutted”

In a Vanity Fair exclusive with Brett Berk, scorned National Book Award hopeful, Lauren Myracle said she felt “gutted and ashamed” when she heard she was nominated, then un-nominated, then nominated again, only to have it all taken away. “The novel in question,” writes Berk, “Shine (Abrams, 2011), concerns a violent hate crime against a small-town gay youth, the ensuing cover-up by local authorities, and a girl who takes it upon herself to find the truth.”

When asked what it felt like to be un-nominated after the high of being singled out for such a prestigious award, Myracle replied that it was like “any bad breakup or any awful thing you go through, if I could go back and have it not happen, I would have it not happen.” Despite this, Myracle said, some good has come out of the experience. “The community of writers has been amazing. I felt ashamed and embarrassed, and they’ve taken my shame and embarrassment away from me. They’ve said, No, we love you, and this is an important book. And that’s made me feel so humbled.”

Myracle, whose New York Times bestselling books are among the most challenged in the United States, said she felt as though the context and content of her work had nothing to do with the confusion. Read, in her own words, how it all came about here.