Book award finalists are ‘debut novelists’ in name only

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Three of this year’s fiction finalists for the National Book Awards are first-time novelists, at least officially. But for Sarah Thankham Mathews, Tess Gunty and Alejandro Varela, the debuts that brought them recognition and acclaim are not at all their initial efforts. Like countless authors before them, the three nominees had been writing for years before the public was able to see their work. They attempted novels and stories that were eventually set aside, absorbed and discarded influences and styles as they searched for an elusive and precious literary grail: their own voice. The National Book Award winners will be announced Wednesday.