Rabih Alameddine’s novel blending family humor with wartime tragedy, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), has won the National Book Award for fiction.

The nonfiction prize went to Omar El Akkad for One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, while poet Patricia Smith received the award for her collection The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems.

In other categories, Daniel Nayeri’s The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story was recognized in young people’s literature, and Gabriela Cabezón Cámara’s We Are Green and Trembling, translated from Spanish by Robin Myers, won in translated literature.

Hundreds of writers, editors, publishers, and industry professionals gathered at Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan for the 76th annual awards ceremony, which also honored fiction writer George Saunders and author-publisher-mentor Roxane Gay with special recognition.

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The evening featured music from Corinne Rae Bailey, who performed a relaxed rendition of “Put Your Records On,” and Emmy-winning actor Jeff Heller served as host, humorously acknowledging the “glitterati of the literati.” Heller poked fun at a typo in his recent book A Certain Actress, joking that readers had mistakenly seen it as A Cetain Actress. “Imagine if Madeleine L’Engle discovered her book was printed as A Wrinkle in Tim,” he quipped.

The National Book Awards are presented by the nonprofit National Book Foundation and are widely regarded as the “Oscars of book publishing.” Winners in each category are chosen by panels composed of writers, booksellers, and critics, who select top works from hundreds of submissions provided by publishers.

Source: AP