The 2021 National Bestseller Award Longlist/Nominees

I’ve written many times about how much I love literary award longlists so it will come as no surprise that I was happy to see last week’s announcement of this year’s nominees (a.k.a. longlist) for the National Bestseller Award. The NatsBest list is always especially interesting because it includes nominators’ names. You can find the list of nominators and nominees here. Or click on book covers here to read nominators’ notes. This year, 43 books were nominated. I won’t list them all (and I’m avoiding reading too much about some of them, lest I spoil the plots for myself or you) but here are a few, many of which I’d never heard of, which is, of course, why I love these lists so much.

• I’ve only read a little of Ksenia Buksha’s Адвент (Advent) but I do think it’s safe to say it offers scenes with a family – two parents and one child who’s opening windows on an advent calendar – as well as windows into the parents’ memories. I love Buksha’s sense of humor, formal shifts, and play with language so am crossing my fingers that the book holds together! (Based on what I’ve heard, I’m pretty sure it will but I’ve jinxed myself too many times in the past…) (Nominator: Polina Boyarkina)
• I have an electronic copy of Inga Kuznetsova’s Изнанка (Inside Out, in Muireann Maguire’s as-yet-unpublished translation), which is told from the point of view of none other than the COVID-19 virus. I’ve read the beginning and am not sure that’s my thing (I’ve gone on record before saying I’m not good with books where the subject matter is this up-to-the-minute/in-the-news) but I’ll give it another try or two or three because I so enjoyed Inga’s Intervals. (Nominator: Igor Voevodin)
• Alla Gorbunova, who won the NOSE Award last week, has a new book coming out: Другая материя (Other Matter?). (Nominator: Julia Goumen)
• I was very excited to see Mikhail Gigolashvili’s Кока (Koka) on the list: it apparently continues the adventures of a character from Gigolashvili’s Четрово колесо (The Devil’s Wheel), which I loved so very much some years ago (previous post). (Nominator: Elena Shubina)
• Sergei Volkov’s Ильич (Ilich) sounds like a book about the nineties that includes a Lenin statue. I lived across from a Lenin statue for the 1992-1993 academic year so that’s a good start. (Nominator: Petr Shepin)
• Покров-17 (Pokrov-17 since it’s a toponym) sounds like another mystical, fast-paced novel from Alexander Pelevin. (Nominator: Anna Dolgareva)
• I did a doubletake when I saw the name Sergey Shoygu, who was nominated for a story collection, Про вчера (About Yesterday): Shoygu’s name has long been familiar since his resume includes stints as Russia’s Minster of Defense and Minister of Emergency Situations. (Nominator: Oleg Zobern, who writes that his grandmother and his friends enjoyed the stories, too.)

Although there are lots of other interesting titles by familiar authors, here are a few I’d never heard of that sound good in some way or other:

• Natalya Solovyova’s На берегу Тьмы (On the Bank of the Tma, which is a tributary of the Volga in the Tver area, those the word “тьма” carries other meanings, including “darkness,” “ignorance,” and, keeping things simple, “multitudes”) sounds like a historical novel based on true incidents; it’s set in the early twentieth century. (Nominator: Rusina Shikhatova)
• Павел Чжан и прочие речные твари (Pavel Chzhan and Other River Creatures, perhaps?) by Vera Bogdanova concerns digital concentration camp and “total chipization.” (Nominator: Alexei Portnov)
• Anton Sekisov’s Бог тревоги (The God of Anxiety or The Anxiety God, perhaps?) is a bit of a cheat since Sekisov was nominated for the NatsBest in 2019. I didn’t remember that, though, so here’s a new book, which is apparently about a young Moscow writer who moves to Petersburg and finds that his Wikipedia page says he’s died. (Nominator: Konstantin Tublin, who says the novel offers “an unexpected take on Petersburg metaphysics and Petersburg myths,” things I always seem to enjoy)

Up Next: Ksenia Buksha’s Advent or Eugene Vodolazkin’s History of Island.

Disclaimers and Disclosures: The usual. And knowing some of the nominators and authors (I’m especially happy for Gigolashvili!) and receiving electronic versions of the Kuznetsova book.