Local writers among book award finalists

By David Mehegan, Globe Staff  |  October 12, 2006

Louise Gluck of Cambridge, former poet laureate of the United States, was named a finalist yesterday for the 2006 National Book Award. M.T. Anderson of Boston and Nancy Werlin of Peabody were among finalists in young people's literature, both for young adult novels.

Gluck was named for her collection of poems, ``Averno." Anderson's book, about an African-American boy in Revolutionary Boston, is ``The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One: The Pox Party." Werlin's novel is ``The Rules of Survival," about a boy and a family in crisis.

Other finalists included Richard Powers for ``The Echo Maker," in fiction, and Taylor Branch for ``At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68," for nonfiction. New Yorker staffer Lawrence Wright is also a nonfiction finalist for ``The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11."

Winners of the $10,000 prize, given by the National Book Foundation, will be announced Nov. 15. The other finalists:

Fiction: Mark Z. Danielewski for ``Only Revolutions," Ken Kalfus for ``A Disorder Peculiar to the Country," Dana Spiotta for ``Eat the Document," and Jess Walter for ``The Zero."

Nonfiction: Rajiv Chandrasekaran for ``Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone," Timothy Egan for ``The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl," and Peter Hessler for ``Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present."

Poetry: H.L. Hix for ``Chromatic," Ben Lerner for ``Angle of Yaw," Nathaniel Mackey for ``Splay Anthem," and James McMichael for ``Capacity."

Young people's literature: Martine Leavitt for ``Keturah and Lord Death," Patricia McCormick for ``Sold," and Gene Luen Yang for ``American Born Chinese."

David Mehegan can be reached at mehegan@globe.com.