According to The Guardian, Jhumpa Lahiri has won the Frank O’Connor award for her outstanding short story collection. In an unprecedented move, the judges dispensed with the “short list”, having been “immediately and unanimously convinced the book should win.” Pat Cotter, the award’s director said:
With a unanimous winner at this early stage we decided it would be a sham to compose a shortlist and put five other writers through unnecessary stress and suspense. Not only were the jury unanimous in their choice of Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth as the winner, they were unanimous in their belief that so outstanding was Lahiri’s achievement in this book that no other title was a serious contender.
Read the full article in The Guardian here.
Lahiri’s The Namesake was one of my favorite books of the past few years, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Unaccustomed Earth! Have you read this collection? Which of the eight short stories was your favorite?
I haven’t had a chance to read this one yet, but it does sound wonderful. I’ll be sure to check back when I do and let you know what I think.
I’m so glad you like the New Yorker archives pieces I’ve been putting on my blog. (And my husband is thrilled that the gift was such a success). It’s so fun to wade through all those old issues. Last week I found an Updike poem next to girdle advertisement. Couldn’t help but giggle!
Hope your kids have fun at camp. Mine are in surf camp, lacrosse camp, and drama camp. It feels almost as hectic as the regular school year
Haven’t read it, although I keep meaning to!!
Great to find a fellow short story fan – we have reviews of four of the longlisted collections in the latest issue of The Short Review as well as author interviews and more reviews of story collections and anthologies. Stop by!
I loved this book! (My review is here.)
I think my favorite stories were “Only Goodness”, about the brother with the drinking problem, and “Year’s End”, the second of the Hema and Kaushik stories.
LisaLynne – thanks for sharing your favorites, and for pointing us to your review!
All- I’ll post a follow up after I’ve read the collection and we can compare notes.
Tania – looking forward to discussion other short story collections with you…