NEW YORK (AP) — David W. Blight’s biography of Frederick Douglass and Sarah Smarsh’s “Heartland” are among the nominees for awards celebrating nonfiction books of social consciousness and literary merit.
On Tuesday, the Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University announced shortlists for the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Awards, the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and the Mark Lynton History Prize.
Smarsh is a finalist for the Lukas Book Prize and Blight for the Lynton History Prize, each worth $10,000. The work-in-progress prize, for a book still being written, awards $25,000 apiece to two authors.
Other Lukas book prize nominees are Shane Bauer’s “American Prison,” Howard Blum’s “In the Enemy’s House,” Lauren Hilgers’ “Patriot Number One” and Chris McGreal’s “American Overdose.”
Besides Blight’s “Frederick Douglass,” history prize finalists are Jeffrey C. Stewart’s Alain Locke biography “The New Negro,” winner last fall of the National Book Award; Andrew Delbanco’s “The War Before the War,” Edith Sheffer’s “Asperger’s Children” and Steven J. Zipperstein’s “Pogrom.”
The work-in-progress nominees are Maurice Chammah’s “Let the Lord Sort Them,” Steven Dudley’s “Mara,” Amelia Pang’s “Made in China,” Lauren Sandler’s “This Is All I Got” and Sarah Schulman’s “Let the Record Show.”
Winners will be announced March 20. The Lukas awards, established in 1998, are named for the late author and investigative journalist. The Lynton prize is named for the late businessman and refugee from Nazi Germany.
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On the Internet: https://journalism.columbia.edu/2019-lukas-prize-shortlist
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This story has been corrected to say the Lynton prize, not the Dayton prize, is named for the late businessman and refugee from Nazi Germany.