Boston Book Review Award
Bingham Poetry Prize
1996 Atlantis by Mark Doty1997 Ark by Ronald Johnson
1998 The Mooring of Starting Out by John Ashbery
A collection of Ashbery's first five books of poems, spanning the years 1956 to 1972. A "New York Times" Notable Book for 1998.
1999 Blizzard of One by Mark Strand
A collection of works by the American poet laureate and MacArthur Fellow, this book includes Strand's eulogy for Joseph Brodsky, his "dog poems," and poems on works by de Chirico, among other subjects. A New York Times Notable Book for 1998.
Fisk Fiction Prize
1995 The Gifts of the Body by Rebecca Brown
In this first-person account, Brown's unnamed female narrator works as a home care assistant who helps those besieged by AIDS. The narrator describes a diverse, ecclectic cast of characters--related only by their affliction--in strong, unsentimental language.
1996 Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates blends fiction with crude drawings and typography to tell the story of Quentin P., a serial killer in search of the perfect zombie (who will do whatever he asks). Filled with gruesome detail, parts of this literary approach to serial killer fiction were previously published by The New Yorker.
1997 Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid
Xuela, a childless Dominican woman in her 70s whose own mother died while giving birth to her, tells the story of a life filled with tragedy and small triumphs: Sent at birth to live in the home of her father's washerwoman, she moves back to her father's house after seven years and must fend off the murderous rage of her jealous stepmother. The neglect and cruelty she suffers as a child sets the pattern for her life, as Xuela treats herself and others with calculated and often cruel disregard.
1998 The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, Carol Brown Janeway
A teenage boy named Michael is befriended by Hanna, a mysterious older married woman. Years later as a law student, he attends a criminal trial in which Hanna stands accused. What emerges is not only Hanna's terrible crime, but an even more dire secret that involves Michael himself. A New York Times Notable Book for 1997.
1999 Saints and Villains by Denise Giardina
A fictional retelling of the life of humanitarian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed at Buchenwald toward the end of World War II for his participation in a daring plot to assassinate Hitler. Winner of the Boston Book Review's 1999 Fisk Fiction Prize, judged by Ann Beattie.
Rea Nonfiction Prize
1995 The Western Canon by Harold Bloom
The debate goes on. Bloom attempts to salvage what's left of the literary canon with this tome of tradition. In the fight against political correctness and ideological literary study on campus, the author asserts that "who reads must choose, since there is literally not enough time to read everything, even if one does nothing but read...Do I again go in search of lost time with Marcel Proust, or am I to attempt yet another rereading of Alice Walker's stirring denunciation of all males...?" In addition to essays that examine Dante to Dostoevksy, Dickinson to Dickens, there's a list of Bloom's favorites, including Cervantes, George Eliot, Borges, and Joseph Mitchell.
1997 Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
After years of teaching creative writing, Frank McCourt published his first book, thus obliging his many friends who had been urging him to write about his childhood--a subject they knew from the many uproarious and affecting stories he told about it. ANGELA'S ASHES traces the tortuous path of his life from his days in abysmal poverty in Limerick, Ireland, to his arrival in New York as a teenager, eager to start a new life.
1999 All on Fire by Henry Mayer
A biography of the American abolitionist who founded the influential newspaper the "Liberator" in Boston in 1831. The book, close to 700 pages, elevates the subject's historical importance and brings to life the era's social and political climate. A New York Times Notable Book for 1998.