Two Local Authors are Finalists for the National Book Award

Two local authors were recently announced as finalists for the National Book Award.

Raleigh poet Eduardo C. Corral, who teaches in the MFA for Creative Writing program in the English Department at North Carolina State University, is longlisted for the National Book Award in Poetry for his new collection Guillotine, which is published by Graywolf Press.

Randall Kenan, who taught creative writing at the University of North Carolina before passing away unexpectedly last month, is longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction for his recent short story collection If I Had Two Wings, which is published by W.W. Norton & Company.

These announcements come on the heels of Raleigh poet Dorianne Laux's nomination as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her newest collection Only As the Day Is Long, which is also published by W.W. Norton & Company. Laux also teaches for the MFA for Creative Writing program in the English Department at North Carolina State University.

The winners of the National Book Award will be announced in a virtual awards ceremony on November 18th.