Wednesday, November 15, 2006

National Book Awards

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This year's winners:
Young People's Literature: M.T. Anderson, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party (Candlewick Press)
Poetry: Nathaniel Mackay, Splay Anthem (New Directions)
Nonfiction: Timothy Egan, The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (Houghton Mifflin)
Fiction: Richard Powers, The Echo Maker (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
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Other items of note in The State newspaper today:
  • South Carolina's Jim Clyburn will probably be the new Democratic House Whip.
  • O.J. Simpson will publish a book called If I Did It.
  • Thanks to analysis of a 38,00-year-old bone fragment, scientists will soon know the entire Neanderthal DNA sequence.
  • Scientists have grown human heart valves usisng stem cells from the fluid that cushions babies in the womb.
  • According to Kathleen Parker, 1 in 3 homeless men is a vet, and 45% of those are mentally ill. 1 in 4 vets of Afghanistan and Iraq are diagnosed with a mental health problem.
  • According to Thomas Friedman, China's rapid economic growth has led to extreme pollution. The country is "reaching its ecological limits."

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