National Book Award
Sigrid Nunez (CRF 2013) wins National Book Award for ‘The Friend,’ an “exquisitely written and deeply humane exploration of grief, literature and memory.”
“The Friend” centers on a lonely writer who takes comfort after her friend commits suicide in caring for his Great Dane. A sometimes acerbic meditation on loss and love, the novel was among this year’s critical favorites.
Ms. Nunez — the author of the novels “Salvation City,” “The Last of Her Kind,” “A Feather on the Breath of God” and “For Rouenna,” among other books — spoke in her acceptance speech about how writers are able to find meaning in pain and emotional hardship because suffering and loss can generate great literature.