The Morning News unveiled the shortlist for the Tournament of Books, what is almost certainly the world’s only literary award inspired by poultry.
Eighteen books will compete, March Madness-style, for the Rooster, the prize that the online magazine has awarded annually for 16 years.
“This list has books that made us laugh out loud and books that made us moan,” the Morning News said. “Books that pulled us deep into perspectives we never would have experienced. It’s got prize winners. It’s got surprises.”
Some of the books on the shortlist have already won awards, including Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other, both of which won the Booker Prize, and Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise, which won the National Book Award for Fiction. Other books on the list that have contended for literary prizes include Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and Valeria Luiselli’s Lost Children Archive.
As the Morning News promised, there are a few surprises as well, including Dexter Palmer’s Mary Toft; or, the Rabbit Queen and Suneeta Peres da Costa’s Saudade.
Judges for this year’s tournament include New Yorker food writer Helen Rosner, design expert Debbie Millman, novelist Jade Chang, and rapper and memoirist Dessa (My Own Devices).
Readers can vote in a "Zombie Poll," which allows an eliminated book to come back for a second round. Voting ends at midnight EST on Dec. 30.
The 2020 tournament kicks off in March, just in time to give you something to care about while your co-workers are obsessed with college basketball.
Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas–based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
