National Book Award for Poetry goes to Arthur Sze

Pitt Professor Emeritus Toi Derricotte was among the five finalists for the National Book Award for poetry for her book “ ‘I’: New and Selected Poems,” but when the awards were announced on Nov. 20 the honor went to Arthur Sze’s “Sight Lines.”

The other winners of the 70th annual National Book Awards are:

Fiction: Susan Choi’s “Trust Exercise”

Nonfiction: Sarah M. Broom’s “The Yellow House”

Translated literature: “Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming,” by László Krasznahorkai and translator Ottilie Mulzet

Young people’s literature: Martin W. Sandler’s “1919: The Year That Changed America”

The winning writers received a trophy and a $10,000 prize and the right to place a gold medal for the covers of their novels. Finalists earn $1,000, a medal, and a judge’s citation.

Derricotte said earlier this month, in an interview with the University Times, that she was overjoyed that her work, the product of 50 years of writing, has earned this recognition.