Prize Week Mania Grips Vroman's!

This week marks one of the busiest weeks of the literary schedule as the winner of the Booker Prize and the nominees for the National Book Award are announced. As I've said before, I'm pulling for Aravind Adiga's excellent The White Tiger to win the Booker, while I'm hoping to see a few familiar names on the National Book Award list (Benioff? Le?). Not everyone is as eagerly awaiting the announcements as I,though. Lee Rourke, for one, isn't too excited about any of this year's Booker Shortlisters.

Some Awards, Some Video Entertainment, and My Youth: Just Wednesday's Links'

There's a lot happening in the world of literature today, and you've got a right to hear about all of it.

• The National Book Foundation has announced its 5 Under 35 Fiction selections for 2008. The winners are Nam Le, Sana Krasikov, Keith Gessen, Fiona Maazel, and Matthew Eck. I've had drunken conversations with both Le and Krasikov, and I had a sober conversation with Gessen when he was here for his event in April. Congratulations to all of them.

• I found this video of David Henry Sterry explaining how to get an agent pretty funny (courtesy of Galleycat): David Henry Sterry will be leading an event similar to this one ("The Art of the Memoir") at Vroman's on Friday, October 3. Panelists will include the very funny Chelsea Handler, author of Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea.

• It's National Punctuation Day. Celebrate accordingly. I like to use dashes myself. How about you?
  

• For some reason, I find myself thinking about Buster Olney's Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty today. Hmm, why could that be?

• A New York Times Magazine profile of Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap, where Dylan Thomas, Saul Bellow, Milton Friedman, and I all used to drink (though, admittedly, not together).
  

Monday Links

I think I'm the only person left in the world who isn't watching the Olympics. The world without TV is a strange and terrifying place, not unlike Utica, NY. On to the links:

• Edan interviews Nam Le at the Millions, where they talk about colon exams, Provincetown, and Friday Night Lights.
  

• David Carr's Night of the Gun, reviewed in the New York Times. Carr will be at Vroman's next Tuesday.
  

• The Top 10 literary virgins.