NEW YORK -- Hernan Diaz's novel “Trust,” a postmodern take on wealth, power and reality set in the 1920s and 1930s, has won the Kirkus Prize for fiction.
The awards, presented by the trade publication Kirkus Reviews, include $50,000 cash prizes for winners in fiction, nonfiction and young readers' literature.
On Thursday, prize judges cited Diaz for how “he uses multiple perspectives and forms to push the boundaries of what a novel can do."
“What seems to begin as an homage to novels of the Roaring ’20s unfolds with each successive layer into a complex story of power, love, and the nature of truth,” the judges said.
The writer and perfurmer Tanaïs' memoir “In Sensorium” won for nonfiction. The book was praised by judges for its “its daring, inventiveness, vision, and lyrical eloquence.” The young readers' award went to Harmony Becker for the graphic novel “Himawari House,” which judges honored for “its perceptive exploration of emotionally resonant, evergreen themes relating to family, friendship, and identity.”
Finalists included Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's “The Books of Jacob” in fiction and the book edition of The New York Times' “The 1619 Project” in nonfiction.
