The other finalists for the prize were Dan Chaon (for Stay Awake) and Junot Diaz (for This Is How You Lose Her).  They each received $5,000. Here’s more from the release:

Ms. Watkins is the ninth-ever winner of The Story Prize and the first woman to win the prestigious book award since Mary Gordon took the top prize for The Stories of Mary Gordon in 2007. The first woman to take the top prize was Edwidge Danticat for The Dew Breaker in 2005.

(Photo via Lily Glass)

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Here’s more from the release: “Collections by two accomplished short story writers and an outstanding debut vie for the richest top prize of any annual U.S. book award for fiction…The Story Prize, an annual award for books of short fiction, is pleased to honor three outstanding short story collections chosen from among a record field of 98 books that 65 different publishers or imprints submitted in 2012.”

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Novelist Junot Diaz delivered a passionate appeal to readers on YouTube, urging them to donate to the Word Up Community Bookshop campaign on IndieGoGo.

The bookseller and community space in Washington Heights, New York City only has five days left to reach its goal of $60,000 on the fundraising site.

Here’s more from Diaz: “The pressure is immense. These folks have a lot on the line, they are almost all volunteers and they are doing this out of love. If we can get them the money by this Sunday, it will not only mean that they will get the money from the campaign, but there’s also a matching grant out there. That little money we are going to spend is going to be of enormous and endless benefit for a beloved community that doesn’t have enough art space, that doesn’t have enough literary space–without which, I don’t think we can be complete.”

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The site, which now counts 12 million members, has nominated 15 books in each category and users are invited to vote on their favorites. The nominees are based on the number of ratings and average ratings on the site. Here is more from the Goodreads blog: “We analyzed statistics from the 170 million books added, rated, and reviewed on the site in 2012 and nominated books based on the number of ratings and average rating. A nomination is truly an honor because it comes straight from the readers!”

This opening round of voting lasts through November 12th. Readers will have two more chances to vote after this round.

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Follow the links below to read free samples of the finalists in every category–who is your favorite?

The finalists were announced on MSNBC this year, a new twist for the prestigious award. The winners will be revealed at a gala ceremony on November 14 in New York City at Cipriani Wall Street.

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In a crazy twist of fate, both are Riverhead Books novelists. Other writers on the list were journalist and author David Finkel and historian Dylan C. Penningroth. The AP has the complete list at this link.

Here’s more about the awards, from the Foundation: “The recipients learned, through a phone call out of the blue from the Foundation, that they will each receive $500,000 in no-strings-attached support over the next five years.  MacArthur Fellowships come without stipulations or reporting requirements and offer Fellows unprecedented freedom and opportunity to reflect, create, and explore. The unusual level of independence afforded to Fellows underscores the spirit of freedom intrinsic to creative endeavors. The work of MacArthur Fellows knows neither boundaries nor the constraints of age, place, and endeavor.”

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Check it out: “Because hunting through the aisles for the book or author you love can be a challenge, I’ve been tracking some of the show’s top titles, from large publishers and small, focusing on tote-away galleys from adult authors and key in-booth signings, always harder to pin down than signings in the Autographing Area. Plus, for the digitally inclined, I’ve embedded icons that will guide you straight to NetGalley—just another sign that those titles are hot.”

If you want to sample the books, Publishers Marketplace and NetGalley teamed up to create BEA Buzz Books, a digital collection of more than 30 samples of highly anticipated books–including excerpts from books by Junot Diaz, Barbara Kingsolver, Dennis Lehane and Neil Young. Follow this link to download the free consumer edition.

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Diaz (pictured, via Joey L.) hasn’t published a book since winning the Pulitzer Prize for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in 2008. Diaz took ten years to publish that novel after his first collection of stories, Drown.

Here’s more from the release: “[The stories] capture the heat of new passion, the recklessness with which we betray what we most treasure, and the torture we go through – ‘the begging, the crawling over glass, the crying’ – to try to mend what we’ve broken beyond repair. They recall the echoes that intimacy leaves behind, even where we thought we did not care. They teach us the catechism of affections: that the faithlessness of the fathers is visited upon the children; that what we do unto our exes is inevitably done in turn unto us; and that loving thy neighbor as thyself is a commandment more safely honored on platonic than erotic terms. Most of all, these stories remind us that the habit of passion always triumphs over experience, and that ‘love, when it hits us for real, has a half-life of forever.’”

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Here’s more from the release: “Multi-dimensional program includes: a staged reading directed by Ralph Peña; artist Wangechi Mutu (MOMA, Guggenheim) talking about immigration; an open mic featuring Jen Kwok (Date an Asian), Negin Farsad (Nerdcore Rising) and others; stories from twenty years of the Workshop; and hard-hitting conversations about Occupy Wall Street, Islam and the West, the rise of China and India, and the national crackdown on immigration.”

The festival will feature appearances by Junot Díaz, Amitav Ghosh, Jessica Hagedorn, Kimiko Hahn, Hari Kunzru, Jayne Anne Phillips, Suketu Mehta, Min Jin Lee, Mark Nowak, Amitava Kumar, Granta editor John Freeman, and Guernica editor Joel Whitney. Attendees will also get a chance to hear from two stand-up comedians, five National Book Award finalists and seven Guggenheim Fellows.

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Today the Less Interesting Books hashtag kept bored Twitter users busy, once again turning modified book titles into a nationally trending topic.

We’ve added The Brief Life of Oscar Wao to the list, turning Junot Diaz‘s masterpiece into a less interesting book. We’ve included a few more below–add yours to Twitter with the #lessinterestingbooks hashtag.

Lord_Voldemort7:  Harry Potter and the Order of Takeout
Mark Athitakis: Good Jones Street
Sarah Weinman Portnoy’s Minor Issue
LAReviewofBooks Inherent Virtue
Jason Diamond: The New Jersey Trilogy

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This year’s New Yorker Festival took place last weekend.  Twitter fans at the festival used the hashtag, #tnyfestival.

On Saturday, Joan Acocella (author of the vampire essay, “In the Blood”) moderated the Vampires Revival panel. On board to speak were philosophy professor Noel Carroll, horror novelist Stephen King, vampire film director Matt Reeves, and Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg. A video preview of the panel discussion is embedded above.

Several dozen King fans waited outside the venue only to be disappointed by King’s unwillingness to sign books. As he walked away with his arms in the air, he told the crowd: “I can’t sign guys, I got to get something to eat.” Alas, just because he’s a “king” doesn’t mean he isn’t human.

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The finalists will be revealed in September, and the award will be delivered at a gala ceremony in Dayton on November 7th, 2010. Publishers interested in submitting should check the award guidelines–the submission deadline is March 31st, 2010.

Here’s more from the release: “Publishers may submit English-language books first published in 2009 for consideration for the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Submissions may address the theme of peace on a variety of levels, such as between individuals, among families and communities, or among nations, religions, or ethnic groups.”

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The top book was the National Award winning novel by Colum McCann, “Let the Great World Spin.” The book “Magnificent Desolation” by astronaut Buzz Aldrin came in 17th place.

Here’s an excerpt from the list: “Our list of the bestselling signed books of 2009 provides a cross-section of the year’s major literary events and books that captured the imagination of countless readers. The top 25 features three titles from authors who passed away during the year–two from John Updike and one from Frank McCourt–plus critically-acclaimed novels, such as Hilary Mantel‘s Booker-winner Wolf Hall, Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski and The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.” (Via Ron Charles)

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GalleyCat caught up with Details‘ Deputy Editor Chis Raymond to find out more about the list. He explained the cutoff age for writers: “After a lot of heated discussion, we ended up settling on 1960 as the cut-off date. That, of course, meant guys like William T. Vollmann didn’t make the cut, which launched a whole new round of arguments. But that’s what makes the project fun. We wanted to point out that there were some literary giants who were born after John Updike and Norman Mailer. But you can’t name every one.”

Finally, he argued against the stereotype that men don’t read books: “I don’t buy that argument. Men may not buy as many books as women, but we read. We read the the Wall Street Journal and Malcolm Gladwell‘s New Yorker stories and Bill Simmons’ column on ESPN.com. If a story’s good enough to merit our attention, we’ll find it and read it. Just look at the features in men’s magazines. They’re often much meatier than the fare you find in women’s magazines. What does that tell you? That guys aren’t afraid to spend an hour reading a great piece of writing … And because Details readers are sophisticated when it comes to modern media, they can appreciate the confessions of Motley Crue every bit as much as Dexter Filkins on the Iraq War.”

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In comparison, Charles Dickens serialized his French revolutionary novel, “A Tale of Two Cities,” in a series of weekly installments. For readers less inclined to read an entire novel on Twitter, Stewart has a Scribd version as well.

Here’s more from his website: “‘The French Revolution’ is an epic San Francisco tale, exploring the haywire extremes of the French Revolution within the microcosm of a dysfunctional family. Zany, tragic, imaginative, funny—the incisive wit and wordplay of Junot Diaz meets the multi-layered precision plotting of Jonathan Franzen.”

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