Charlottesville writer Kathryn Erskine won the National Book Award last night for her young adult novel, Mockingbird. The story follows a young woman afflicted with Asperger’s who struggles to move forward after losing her brother in a school shooting.
Erskine, a lawyer-turned-writer, said in a recent interview with Publisher’s Weekly that the book was inspired both by her daughter’s struggle with Asperger’s, and her own search for answers after the Virginia Tech shootings. "My thoughts went to what it must be like to be related to one of the victims and to how a kid like mine who sees the world so differently," she said in the interview, "who doesn’t feel heard or understood, how frustrated she gets and how frustrated other people get with her because they don’t understand how her mind works."
The "Oscars of the literary world" took place last night in New York, at a ceremony for 600. The award carries a $1,000 cash prize for being nominated, and $10,000 for winning. Other winners included Patti Smith for her memoir Just Kids (which we reviewed) poet Terrance Hayes for Lighthead, and Jaimy Gordon for Lord of Misrule. Read all about it here.
Erskine’s next book, The Absolute Value of Mike, comes out next summer.
Now where are we gonna slap that gold label?
