Novelist Tess Gunty wins National Book Award for fiction

NEW YORK >> Tess Gunty’s “The Rabbit Hutch,” a sweeping debut novel set in a low-income housing community in Indiana, has won the National Book Award for fiction. The 30-year-old Gunty was among three writers nominated for their first published books.

The nonfiction prize went to Imani Perry’s “South to America,” and Sabaa Tahir’s “All My Rage” won for young people’s literature. In poetry, John Keene was cited for “Punks: New and Selected Poems,” and Argentine-Spanish language author Samanta Schweblin and translator Megan McDowell won for best work in translation for “Seven Empty Houses.”

Winners each received $10,000. In her acceptance speech, Gunty cited recent comments made by poetry nominee Sharon Olds about literature’s essential role in society. Gunty called books a path to calling attention to those “neglected” and otherwise not visible.