The Biggest Literary Controversies of the Last 15 Years: Part 1

To the time machine! The National Book Awards Announce Wrong Title and Ask Wronged Author to Withdraw (2011) One of the biggest literary awards presented to books for young readers is the National Book Award. Imagine, though, what happens when the wrong book is announced as part of the award’s short list. That went down in 2011, when author Lauren Myracle learned her novel Shine landed on the short list. Unfortunately for Myracle, it wasn’t her book that earned that spot. It was a similarly-sounding book by Franny Billingsley called Chime. National Book Foundation staff had misheard the title of the book, but the error wasn’t caught until the announcements were made. Literary Activism News you can use plus tips and tools for the fight against censorship and other bookish activism! Upon realizing what happened, the National Book Awards elected to keep Shine on the list, but they then added Chime, creating a short list of six titles for the Young People’s Literature category for the first time after. But that wouldn’t be the end of the story. One week later, officials with the National Book Awards asked Myracle to withdraw her title in order to maintain the integrity of the judges’ i...