Syracuse University English professor Bruce Smith has been named a finalist for a 2011 National Book Award for his latest poetry volume, "Devotions" (University of Chicago Press). Past winner Vern Rutsala made the announcement Wednesday in front of a live audience at the new Literary Arts Center in Portland, Ore. The other four poetry finalists were Nikky Finney ("Head Off & Split), Yusef Komunyakaa ("The Chameleon Couch"), Carl Phillips ("Double Shadow") and Adrienne Rich ("Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 2007-2010).
At the time of its publication in April, Smith's book was described as a collection of meditations drawn "from the chatter of the street, high schools, laundromats, motels, films and dreams... to measure the American hunger and thirst," on his publisher's website.
Smith's other poetry books include “Songs for Two Voices” (University of Chicago, 2005) and “The Other Lover” (University of Chicago, 2000), which was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. His poem have appeared in Poetry, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, The Partisan Review, The American Poetry Review and elsewhere. He was named a Guggenheim fellow in 2000 and has twice been a recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts. In 2010 he received an award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.He has taught at SU since 2002.
Charles Johnson, 1990 National Book Award winner in fiction for "Middle Passage," announced the fiction finalists: Andrew Krivak ("The Sojourn"), Tea Obreht, ("The Tiger's Wife"), Julie Otsuka ("The Buddha in the Attic"), Edith Pearlman ("Binocular Vision"), Jesmyn Ward ("Salvage the Bones").
Sallie Tisdale, a 2010 National Book Award judge, announced the year's nonfiction finalists: Deborah Baker ("The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism"), Mary Gabriel ("Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution"), Stephen Greenblatt ("The Swerve: How the World Became Modern"), Manning Marable ("Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention") and Lauren Redniss ("Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout")
Virginia Euwer Wolff, 2001 winner for "True Believer," announced the Young People's Literature Finalists: Franny Billingsley ("Chime"), Debby Dahl Edwardson ("My Name is Not Easy"), Thanhha Lai ("Inside Out and Back Again"), Albert Marrin ("Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy"), Lauren Myracle ("Shine") and Gary D. Schmidt ("Okay for Now").
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