Singer-poet Smith wins top literary prize
Source: Agencies |
November 19, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PATTI Smith is a literary star. The singer-poet's memoir about life in New York City in the 1960s, "Just Kids," won the National Book Award of the United States for nonfiction.
"Just Kids" is a bittersweet look back at her deep friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and at a revolutionary time in the country.
A tearful Smith, 63, recalled working decades ago at a Scribner's bookstore and stacking up the National Book Award winners, wondering if she would ever receive such a prize.
"So thank you for letting me find out," said Smith, who now claims an honor previously given to Rachel Carson, Gore Vidal and Joan Didion.
The fiction prize on Wednesday night was a surprise, Jaimy Gordon's "Lord of Misrule," a wry, hard-luck racetrack comedy chosen over such better known works as Lionel Shriver's "So Much for That" and Nicole Krauss' "Great House."
Gordon acknowledged she had not expected to win and cited friends who had told her that she had given them hope just by being nominated.
Kathryn Erskine's "Mockingbird," inspired in part by "To Kill a Mockingbird" and by the Virginia Tech shooting, was cited for young people's literature. It features an 11-year-old girl with Asperger's, Erskine praised parents who encourage their children to ask questions.
Terrance Hayes' "Lighthead" won the poetry category.
Honorary medals were presented to "Bonfire of the Vanities" novelist Tom Wolfe and one of the creators of "Sesame Street," Joan Ganz Cooney.
"Just Kids" is a bittersweet look back at her deep friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and at a revolutionary time in the country.
A tearful Smith, 63, recalled working decades ago at a Scribner's bookstore and stacking up the National Book Award winners, wondering if she would ever receive such a prize.
"So thank you for letting me find out," said Smith, who now claims an honor previously given to Rachel Carson, Gore Vidal and Joan Didion.
The fiction prize on Wednesday night was a surprise, Jaimy Gordon's "Lord of Misrule," a wry, hard-luck racetrack comedy chosen over such better known works as Lionel Shriver's "So Much for That" and Nicole Krauss' "Great House."
Gordon acknowledged she had not expected to win and cited friends who had told her that she had given them hope just by being nominated.
Kathryn Erskine's "Mockingbird," inspired in part by "To Kill a Mockingbird" and by the Virginia Tech shooting, was cited for young people's literature. It features an 11-year-old girl with Asperger's, Erskine praised parents who encourage their children to ask questions.
Terrance Hayes' "Lighthead" won the poetry category.
Honorary medals were presented to "Bonfire of the Vanities" novelist Tom Wolfe and one of the creators of "Sesame Street," Joan Ganz Cooney.
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