Reading, Writing (and Prizes)

Garrison Keillor has a very nice piece in Salon, The more noble prize, about being at the National Book Awards last month. (He hosted the event, although he modestly doesn't say so in his essay.) It's free. You have to watch an ad first, but the article is worth the trouble.
       The winners of the 2005 National Book Awards were: William T. Vollman, Europe Central, for fiction; Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking, for nonfiction; W.S. Merwin, Migration: New and Selected Poems, for poetry; and Jeannie Birdsall, The Penderwicks, for Young People's Literature. It is worth looking at the full lists of nominees as well as winners. Over time they tend to sort themselves out, and the winners in each year's small group are not necessarily the titles which remain memorable.