Moroccan writer, Laila Lalami is on the shortlist of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for her book; “The Other Americans.”
The Kirkus Prize is the brainchild of Kirkus Review, founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The prize which awards $50,000 to writers in the various categories, is one of the world’s richest prize. Each of the three categories that is; the Kirkus Prize for Fiction, the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and the Kirkus Prize for Young Reader’s Literature, is for the prize money of $50,000. Which means the Kirkus Review gives out $150,000 annually for great literary works.
The Moroccan-American professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, was finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her book, “The Moors Account.” That same year, she won the American Book Award for the same book. Lalami has at least four books to her name, all of which has received positive acclaims and bags of awards to cap it up.
The shortlist of six as announced are;
- Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis.
- The Other Americans by Laila Lalami.
- Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli.
- Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima, translated by Geraldine Harcourt
- On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
The winner of the 2019 prize will be announced on the 24th of October, 2019.