This week the 25 books that are the 2020 National Book Award Finalists were announced. In the Nonfiction category, the five finalists are:

• Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, “The Undocumented Americans”

• Les Payne and Tamara Payne, “The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X”

• Claudio Saunt, “Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory”

• Jenn Shapland, “My Autobiography of Carson McCullers”

• Jerald Walker, “How to Make a Slave and Other Essays”

The MSU Libraries has copies of these five books either in the collection or on order. 

The other four categories of the National Book Award are:

1. Fiction
2. Poetry
3. Young People’s Literature
4. Translated Literature

The winners will be announced on November 18 at an online event.