Unquillable
Posted by: Keir Graff
Hooray! The Quills will be returning for a third year, reports Publishers Weekly (“Revamped Quills Set for October 22“). There will be some changes, however. First, instead of letting anyone with an Internet connection cast a vote, 6,000 booksellers and librarians will do the honors. Second, the books they’ll be voting on (5 books times 19 categories), PW reports, will be selected by…PW.
To be considered for the Quills, books must have been published between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2007. This year, the nomination process will feature a Quills/PW Selection Committee headed by PW editor-in-chief Sara Nelson. The committee will choose titles from books that have appeared as PW starred reviews or on the magazine’s bestsellers lists.
Sure, all awards are subjective, but…huh. Either it’s good (starred review) or it’s not good (no starred review) but sold a lot. It’s populism–with a critical edge! (Don’t worry, Average Internet User, you’ll still be able to vote for the “Book of the Year” at www.quillsvote.com.)
In a third change from last year, winners will be announced over a month before the actual ceremony–presumably because last year not enough winners bothered to show up.
I can’t wait. I can practically taste the Hollywood-style glitz.
June 13th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
[...] Out yesterday, playing pool with my father, who is visiting. Today? Ranting on the Booklist Book Club. And, of course, blogging. There’s my favorite book award, for instance, which announced its nominees in the category of Debut Author yesterday morning (”Quills Debut Author Nominees Picked,” Publishers Weekly): A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah (Farrar/Sarah Crichton) [...]