#National Book Award finalist

[m-c-easton]

Book Picks: The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

I'm still reading through the best books of 2021/2022, and my fav so far is The Haunting of Hajji Hotak. Masterful and riveting, these stories of war and diaspora will break your heart and bind it up again. Jamil Jan Kochai is an author to watch. #reading

I’m continuing to work my way through titles that made waves in 2021 and 2022, and this is my favorite so far. If you are in the market for masterful short stories, Jamil Jan Kochai’s collection will not disappoint. A National Book Award finalist, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak feels like it enfolds the entire world in its embrace, spanning the United States and Afghanistan, teen gamers and aging…

[expendablemudge]

The #NationalBookAward will be given this week. CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS is a #fiction finalist. I think Nana-Kwame Adjei-Brenyah deserves the nod. Thank goodness Pantheon Books brought us the novel. My #BookRecommendation: https://expendablemudge.blogspot.com/2023/11/chain-gang-all-stars-first-novel-is-out.html…

[bookstorenmore]

2024 National Book Award Finalists

The National Book Awards (NBA) were established in 1950, originally in 1936 but were abandoned due to the war, to celebrate the best writing in America. Since 1989, they have been overseen by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture. 

Although other categories have been recognized in the past, the Awards currently honor the best Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature published each year.

[wellesleybooks]

The finalists have been announced- the awards will be announced on Wednesday, November 20, 2024. The event will be available to stream live at nationalbook.org/awards.

[chantireviews]

The 2023 Laramie Book Awards Finalists for Americana Fiction

The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the Americana and Westerns fiction genre.  The Laramie Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs). Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring Americana themes, First Nation stories, early North American History, cowboys & cowgirls in the Wild West,…

[booksofdelight]

Finalists For the 2023 National Book Award Announced

These are the National Book Award Finalists 2023!

The 20 finalists for the 2023 National Book Award were announced today. Winners will be selected from the five categories -fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature. The winners will be announced during an award ceremony on November 15 by guests such as Oprah Winfrey, Rita Dove, and Paul Yamazaki. All finalists selected will receive $1000 and a bronze…

[makingqueerhistory]

Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality

Eliot Schrefer with Jules Zuckerberg

This groundbreaking illustrated YA nonfiction title from two-time National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Eliot Schrefer is a well-researched and teen-friendly exploration of the gamut of queer behaviors observed in animals. A quiet revolution has been underway in recent years, with study after study revealing substantial same-sex sexual behavior in animals. Join celebrated author Eliot Schrefer on an exploration of queer behavior in the animal world—from albatrosses to bonobos to clownfish to doodlebugs.

In sharp and witty prose—aided by humorous comics from artist Jules Zuckerberg—Schrefer uses science, history, anthropology, and sociology to illustrate the diversity of sexual behavior in the animal world. Interviews with researchers in the field offer additional insights for readers and aspiring scientists.

Queer behavior in animals is as diverse and complex—and as natural—as it is in our own species. It doesn’t set us apart from animals—it bonds us even closer to our animal selves.

[mrsklrv]

thought maybe i say hi in your feed! My name is Maria Skliarova, and I am a Ukrainian full-time artist. I did the cover for the book The Lost Year (which was a finalist for the National Book Award) and worked with numerous magazines as conceptual editorial illustrator. 

I have bipolar disorder so sometimes i don’t draw for four-five months 🥲 Also I read a looot of books (my last fave fourth wing & iron flame, bc fantasy can sometimes help me to ease struggling with bd). that’s it 🫶🏻🖌️

here is some of my works and personal pieces:

instagram | website @art @staff

[thedisabilitybookarchive]

Disability in Non-Fiction #1: Plain Text Edition

A plain text version of this post. Here you will find detailed image descriptions and easier-to-read versions of each book summary. If you think that any image descriptions/summaries need to be updated, please let me know!

================================================

‘How to Live Free in a Dangerous World’- Lawson, Shayla

[ID: A book cover. The background is a pale orange colour. In the centre, a large photograph of a person with brown skin standing in front a desert under a blue sky. They have short braided brown hair swept over their left eye, and have their arms crossed over their chest, with one hand resting on the side of their face. The title “How to Live Free in a Dangerous World” is around them in large orange writing that covers the length of the photo. The subtitle “A Decolonial Memoir” is to the right their head in very small white writing. The author’s name “Shayla Lawson” is below the title, at the bottom of the photograph, in smaller yellow writing. Black text at the bottom of the cover reads, under the author’s name, reads “author of ‘this is major’, a national book critics circle award finalist”. /end]

Summary:

Poet and journalist Shayla Lawson follows their National Book Critics Circle finalist This Is Major with these daring and exquisitely crafted essays, where Lawson journeys across the globe, finds beauty in tumultuous times, and powerfully disrupts the constraints of race, gender, and disability.

With their signature prose, at turns bold, muscular, and luminous, Shayla Lawson travels the world to explore deeper meanings held within love, time, and the self.

Through encounters with a gorgeous gondolier in Venice, an ex-husband in the Netherlands, and a lost love on New Year’s Eve in Mexico City, Lawson’s travels bring unexpected wisdom about life in and out of love. They learn the strength of friendships and the dangers of beauty during a narrow escape in Egypt. They examine Blackness in post-dictatorship Zimbabwe, then take us on a secretive tour of Black freedom movements in Portugal.

Through a deeply insightful journey, Lawson leads readers from a castle in France to a hula hoop competition in Jamaica to a traditional theater in Tokyo to a Prince concert in Minnesota and, finally, to finding liberation on a beach in Bermuda, exploring each location—and their deepest emotions—to the fullest. In the end, they discover how the trials of marriage, grief, and missed connections can lead to self-transformation and unimagined new freedoms.

‘Being Seen’- Sjunneson, Elsa

[ID: A book cover. It is a dark black with faint, grey, writing over it. The writing, from top to bottom, reads: “Elsa Sjunneson” “Being Seen” “One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism” All in capitals. The “I” in “Being Seen” is designed to look like an opening of sorts, with a ray of light coming through. /end]

Summary:

A deafblind writer and professor explores how the misrepresentation of disability in books, movies, and TV harms both the disabled community and everyone else.

As a deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids, Elsa Sjunneson lives at the crossroads of blindness and sight, hearing and deafness—much to the confusion of the world around her. While she cannot see well enough to operate without a guide dog or cane, she can see enough to know when someone is reacting to the visible signs of her blindness and can hear when they’re whispering behind her back. And she certainly knows how wrong our one-size-fits-all definitions of disability can be.

As a media studies professor, she’s also seen the full range of blind and deaf portrayals on film, and here she deconstructs their impact, following common tropes through horror, romance, and everything in between. Part memoir, part cultural criticism, part history of the deafblind experience, Being Seen explores how our cultural concept of disability is more myth than fact, and the damage it does to us all.

‘Disability Pride’- Mattlin, Ben

[ID: A book cover. The background is made of simple, colourful red, cream, white, yellow and teal shapes. Large text reads, from top to bottom: “Disability Pride” in large, black capitals, “Dispatches from a Post-ADA World”in smaller, black capitals, “Ben Mattlin”, in slightly bigger red capitals. /end]

Summary:

An eye-opening portrait of the diverse disability community as it is today and how attitudes, activism, and representation have evolved since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In Disability Pride, disabled journalist Ben Mattlin weaves together interviews and reportage to introduce a cavalcade of individuals, ideas, and events in engaging, fast-paced prose. He traces the generation that came of age after the ADA reshaped America, and how it is influencing the future. He documents how autistic self-advocacy and the neurodiversity movement upended views of those whose brains work differently. He lifts the veil on a thriving disability culture—from social media to high fashion, Hollywood to Broadway—showing how the politics of beauty for those with marginalized body types and facial features is sparking widespread change.

He also explores the movement’s shortcomings, particularly the erasure of nonwhite and LGBTQIA+ people that helped give rise to Disability Justice. He delves into systemic ableism in health care, the right-to-die movement, institutionalization, and the scourge of subminimum-wage labor that some call legalized slavery. And he finds glimmers of hope in how disabled people never give up their fight for parity and fair play.

Beautifully written, without anger or pity, Disability Pride is a revealing account of an often misunderstood movement and identity, an inclusive reexamination of society’s treatment of those it deems different.

‘Crip Kinship’- Kafai, Shayda

[ID: A book cover. The background is light blue, with colourful pictures of butterflies, flowers and a house setting featured in the centre. Lower right centre of the image, a black figure in a long sleeved, billowing dress, holding a curved black walking stick in their right hand. Behind them, a drawing of a room with a table, chair, pink wall with a window, and a blank wall with an orange picture. Text on the book cover, from top to bottom, reads: The title “Crip Kinship” in large black font at the top of the image, The subtitle “The Disability Justice & Art Activism of Sins Invalid” in smaller black capitals, in the upper right corner of the image, The authors name “Shayda Kafai” in medium black capitals in the lower right of the image, partially overlapping the figure in the dress. /end]

Summary:

The remarkable story of Sins Invalid, a performance project that centres queer disability justice.

In recent years, disability activism has come into its own as a vital and necessary means to acknowledge the power and resilience of the disabled community, and to call out ableist culture wherever it appears.

Crip Kinship explores the art activism of Sins Invalid, a San Francisco Bay Area-based performance project, and its radical imaginings of what disabled, queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming bodyminds of colour can do: how they can rewrite oppression, and how they can gift us with transformational lessons for our collective survival.

Grounded in the disability justice framework, Crip Kinship investigates the revolutionary survival teachings that disabled, queer of colour community offers to all our bodyminds. From their focus on crip beauty and sexuality to manifesting digital kinship networks and crip-centric liberated zones, Sins Invalid empowers and moves us toward generating our collective liberation from our bodyminds outward.

‘Sounds Like Home’- Wright, Mary Herring

[ID: A book cover. The background is yellow. A black and white photograph in the centre shows two young black children and a dog in front of a car. The title “Sounds Like Home” is at the tope in large, curvy black writing. The subtitle “Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South” is written in small orange writing, on three black bars on the right side of the cover. The author’s name “Mary Herring Wright” is written in curvy black writing, slightly smaller than the title, at the bottom of the cover. /end]

Summary:

Mary Herring Wright’s memoir adds an important dimension to the current literature in that it is a story by and about an African American deaf child. The author recounts her experiences growing up as a deaf person in Iron Mine, North Carolina, from the 1920s through the 1940s. Her story is unique and historically significant because it provides valuable descriptive information about the faculty and staff of the North Carolina school for Black deaf and blind students from the perspective of a student as well as a student teacher. In addition, this engrossing narrative contains details about the curriculum, which included a week-long Black History celebration where students learned about important Blacks such as Madame Walker, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and George Washington Carver. It also describes the physical facilities as well as the changes in those facilities over the years. In addition, Sounds Like Home occurs over a period of time that covers two major events in American history, the Depression and World War II.

Wright’s account is one of enduring faith, perseverance, and optimism. Her keen observations will serve as a source of inspiration for others who are challenged in their own ways by life’s obstacles.

‘The Right to Maim’- Puar, Jasbir K.

[ID: A book cover. The background is white. A painting stretches from the bottom of the cover to bottom of top quarter. In the upper quarter of the cover, text reads: The author’s name “Jasbir K. Puar” is at the top in black writing. The title “The Right to Maim” is immediately below this in red caps. The subtitle “Debility, Capacity, Disability” is immediately below this in smaller, yellow caps. The painting is immediately below this. The background is a dark cream. It appears to show a humanoid figure climbing a mound. Two other figures appear to be falling off the mound. There are splashes of red paint around the mound and the figure on it. /end]

Summary:

In The Right to Maim Jasbir K. Puar brings her pathbreaking work on the liberal state, sexuality, and biopolitics to bear on our understanding of disability. Drawing on a stunning array of theoretical and methodological frameworks, Puar uses the concept of “debility”—bodily injury and social exclusion brought on by economic and political factors—to disrupt the category of disability. She shows how debility, disability, and capacity together constitute an assemblage that states use to control populations. Puar’s analysis culminates in an interrogation of Israel’s policies toward Palestine, in which she outlines how Israel brings Palestinians into biopolitical being by designating them available for injury. Supplementing its right to kill with what Puar calls the right to maim, the Israeli state relies on liberal frameworks of disability to obscure and enable the mass debilitation of Palestinian bodies. Tracing disability’s interaction with debility and capacity, Puar offers a brilliant rethinking of Foucauldian biopolitics while showing how disability functions at the intersection of imperialism and racialized capital.

‘Uncomfortable Labels’- Dale, Laura Kate

[ID: A book cover. The background is a close photograph of some kind of knitted garment, and its label. The garment is blue. The label is in the centre. Text on the label reads: The title “Uncomfortable Labels” in large black caps The subtitle “My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman” in smaller black caps, lower left of this The author’s name “Laura Kate Dale” at the bottom of the label in black writing. A smaller label attached to the bottom has a single, black capitalised “M” written on it. /end]

Summary:

“So while the assumption when I was born was that I was or would grow up to be a neurotypical heterosexual boy, that whole idea didn’t really pan out long term.”

In this candid, first-of-its-kind memoir, Laura Kate Dale recounts what life is like growing up as a gay trans woman on the autism spectrum. From struggling with sensory processing, managing socially demanding situations and learning social cues and feminine presentation, through to coming out as trans during an autistic meltdown, Laura draws on her personal experiences from life prior to transition and diagnosis, and moving on to the years of self-discovery, to give a unique insight into the nuances of sexuality, gender and autism, and how they intersect.

Charting the ups and downs of being autistic and on the LGBT spectrum with searing honesty and humour, this is an empowering, life-affirming read for anyone who’s felt they don’t fit in.

'Brilliant Imperfections'- Clare, Eli

[ID: A book cover. A photograph of stones can be seen. Over it, a dark box stretching from left to right at the top of the image. Text in the box reads: “Brilliant Imperfection”, in large caps. “Brilliant” is in green, “Imperfection is in white. “Grappling With Cure”, in small, green caps. “Eli Clare”, in white caps. /end]

Summary:

In Brilliant Imperfection Eli Clare uses memoir, history, and critical analysis to explore cure—the deeply held belief that body-minds considered broken need to be fixed.

Cure serves many purposes. It saves lives, manipulates lives, and prioritizes some lives over others. It provides comfort, makes profits, justifies violence, and promises resolution to body-mind loss. Clare grapples with this knot of contradictions, maintaining that neither an anti-cure politics nor a pro-cure worldview can account for the messy, complex relationships we have with our body-minds.

The stories he tells range widely, stretching from disability stereotypes to weight loss surgery, gender transition to skin lightening creams. At each turn, Clare weaves race, disability, sexuality, class, and gender together, insisting on the nonnegotiable value of body-mind difference. Into this mix, he adds environmental politics, thinking about ecosystem loss and restoration as a way of delving more deeply into cure.

Ultimately Brilliant Imperfection reveals cure to be an ideology grounded in the twin notions of normal and natural, slippery and powerful, necessary and damaging all at the same time.

================================================

A short list of 8 non-fiction books featuring and/or discussing disability!

I don't highlight the non-fiction section of the archive enough, so I think this is a perfect opportunity.

A plain text version of this post exists here, featuring more detailed image descriptions of each book cover and easier-to-read versions of every summary.

Books on this list:

‘How to Live Free in a Dangerous World’- Lawson, Shayla

‘Being Seen’- Sjunneson, Elsa

‘Disability Pride’- Mattlin, Ben

‘Crip Kinship’- Kafai, Shayda

‘Sounds Like Home’- Wright, Mary Herring

‘The Right to Maim’- Puar, Jasbir K.

‘Uncomfortable Labels’- Dale, Laura Kate

'Brilliant Imperfections'- Clare, Eli

All of these books and more can be found on the Disability Book Archive.

Happy Disability Pride Month!

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Feel the need to push back on a couple of things.

New Orleans (even post-Katrina) is not a "third world country." Also, the preferred nomenclature is "developing country" or "global south." But NOLA doesn't qualify, no matter what term one uses.

"Succession by popular vote instead of by hereditary primogeniture." -- even Harry's not that stupid. What Harry means by "modernizing" is to split the Duchy of Cornwall and then Lancaster, and for him to get all the perks - security, grace and favour home, staff, etc - without having to read the red boxes or meet the PM weekly or be sent somewhere he doesn't want to go. What Meghan means by it is what she's still trying to do: let me use my title to get fame, freebies, and financial remuneration, without having to live in the UK or do any work.

Lastly, I don't want to denigrate Earthshot or Homewards but as I understand the projects (and maybe I'm misunderstanding) their impacts won't be measurable for a while either. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I have no objections to the Homewards project (as I understand it) and my sole - but fierce - objection to Earthshot is the galas. (I don't care if that's how most non-profits make money, it's the wrong move for an environmental org.)

Thanks for this. A few things.

You misunderstood what I meant by post-Katrina New Orleans. I wasn't talking about post-Katrina today or post-Katrina 2010s. I meant immediately post-Katrina, as in September 1, 2005 post-Katrina. New Orleans, and especially the Lower 9th Ward, was left in really horrific conditions that absolutely were reminiscent of developing nations. Celebrities with no connections to New Orleans (like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) flocked there for years to do charity work and many of them used their New Orleans-based humanitarian aid efforts for self-promotion. I should have been clearer about that.

And by the way, while today most of New Orleans has largely recovered from the effects of Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, there are still parts of it - especially in the Lower 9th Ward - still dealing with the impact, long after the rest of the city and the rest of the world moved on. For example, it took 10 years for residents to get a single grocery store after the storms. Many residents are still tied up in financial problems from storm damage, insurance, and rebuilding. And there are buildings condemned from the storms still standing, still with FEMA search and rescue symbols on them, still with mold and personal belongings and flood damage in them, and there's reasonable belief that some missing/unaccounted-for people from the storm may still be in those abandoned structures. (And also let's not forget the ethical and moral issues being debated still today.)

If you still don't believe how horrific post-Katrina was or that a city in the US could feel so abandoned that it paralleled developing countries, I encourage you to read memoirs or listen to stories from Katrina survivors and New Orleans residents about what it was like after the storms. (This book is hard to read, but it's worth it. There's an Apple series made if you'd rather watch it instead.)

To your third point about Earthshot projects not having results yet, nope. The Earthshot projects may not have global results yet or large-scale results, but they do already have results, even if small. Because Earthshot isn't funding brand new initiatives - Earthshot is funding small, proven, existing projects and awarding the winners grants to scale up their operations. It's right there on the website:

"Proven prototypes" and "signs of success" means that the projects must have outcomes and results to report in their applications. They can be small datasets, but they're still datasets, outcomes, and results that Earthshot winners are able to compare their grant-funded work against to measure the effectiveness of those grants.

Further, Earthshot's Roadmap, which describes how they evaluate nominations to determine finalists and winners, has specific requirements for nominees to demonstrate actual impact of their work:

So, yes, Earthshot projects are able to deliverable measurable results quickly. And we know they're delivering measurable results immediately because Earthshot and William are promoting it. That's the whole point of those "come see what Earthshot winners are doing" videos on social media and engagements - it's to show how the companies are using their prize grants to deliver on the metrics they were required to support in their nominations.

[arcanumb]

Two poems by Palestinian Poet Mosab Abu Toha. ( @mosab_abutoha )

We Deserve A Better Death

and

We Love What We Have

Finalist for the National Book Critics Award for Poetry, winner of Palestine Book Award, American Book Award, Walcott Poetry Prize.

Mosab was recently detained by the IOF for approximately 50 hours and was released only because of the international pressure to see him released. he now asks that we share and uplift and amplify Palestinian voices. if you are on instagram i recommend you follow along and encourage you to get familiar with his work.

[myrebelancestorsdiedforme]

A'ja Wilson

Career Game-by-Game Stats

Awards

Senior Year (2017-18)

Consensus National Player of the Year (espnW, USA Today, AP, USBWA, Basketball Times)
Wooden Award
Naismith Trophy
Wade Trophy
Honda Sport Award – Basketball
All-America First Team (AP, WBCA, USBWA, ESPN, Wooden Award)
SEC Player of the Year (Coaches, AP) – first three-time selection in league history
SEC co-Defensive Player of the Year (Coaches)
All-SEC First Team (Coaches, AP)
SEC Tournament MVP
NCAA Albany Region All-Tournament Team
Three-time SEC Player of the Week

Junior Year (2016-17)

Naismith Award Finalist
Wooden Award Finalist
Wade Trophy Finalist
All-America First Team (AP, WBCA, USBWA, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Wooden Award)
SEC Player of the Year (Coaches, AP)
All-SEC First Team (Coaches, AP)
SEC All-Defensive Team
NCAA Final Four MOP
NCAA Stockton Region All-Tournament Team
SEC Tournament MVP
SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll
SEC Player of the Week (Mar. 2)
SEC Women’s Basketball Leadership Council Representative

Sophomore Year (2015-16)

Naismith Award Finalist
Wooden Award Finalist
Wade Trophy Finalist
All-America First Team (AP, WBCA, USBWA, ESPN, Wooden Award)
SEC Player of the Year (Coaches, AP)
SEC Defensive Player of the Year
All-SEC First Team (Coaches, AP)
SEC All-Defensive Team
SEC All-Tournament Team
Four-Time SEC Player of the Week
SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll

Freshman Year (2014-15)

All-America Third Team (AP)
All-America Honorable Mention (WBCA)
SEC Freshman of the Year (Coaches, AP)
All-SEC First Team (Coaches, AP)
SEC All-Freshman Team
USBWA National Freshman of the Week (Dec. 1-7)
Five-time SEC Freshman of the Week

High School

2014 National High School Player of the Year (WBCA, Naismith, Parade)
McDonald’s All-America (2013-14)
Parade All-America (2013-14)
Three-time South Carolina Independent Schools Association Player of the Year

International

USA Basketball National Team Pool
2017 USA Basketball U23 National Team
2015 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year
2015 FIBA U19 World Championship, MVP
2015 FIBA U19 World Championship, gold medal
2014 FIBA Americas U18 Championship MVP
2014 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, gold medal
2013 FIBA U19 World Championship, gold medal

In the Record Books

Career

1st – Points in a career (2,389)
1st – Blocked shots in a career (363)
1st – Blocked shot average in a career (2.6)
1st – Free throws made in a career (597)
1st – Free throw attempts in a career (835)
2nd – 20-Point Games in a career (47)
2nd – Field goals made in a career (893)
2nd – Defensive rebounds in a career (821)
2nd – Double-doubles in a career (54)
3rd – Rebounds in a career (1,195)
3rd – Games played in a career (138)
4th – Field goal attempts in a career (1,624)
4th – Offensive rebounds in a career (374)
5th – Scoring average in a career (17.3)
5th – Field goal percentage in a career (.550 (893-1624))
1st – Points in an SEC Career (1,020)
1st – 20-point games in an SEC career (23)
1st – Free throws made in an SEC career (249)
1st – Free throw attempts in an SEC career (357)
1st – Blocked shots in an SEC career (158)
1st – Blocked shot average in an SEC career (2.7)
2nd – Scoring Average in an SEC career (17.3)
2nd – Rebounds in an SEC career (540)
2nd – Rebounding average in an SEC career (9.2)
2nd – Offensive rebounds in an SEC career (177)
2nd – Defensive rebounds in an SEC career (363)
2nd – Double-doubles in an SEC career (21)
Most points in career NCAA Tournament games (306)
Most field goals made in career NCAA Tournament games (109)
Most field goal attempts in career NCAA Tournament games (203)
Most free throws made in career NCAA Tournament games (88)
Most free throw attempts in career NCAA Tournament games (113)
Most rebounds in career NCAA Tournament games (153)
Most defensive rebounds in career NCAA Tournament games (204)
Most blocked shots in career NCAA Tournament games (43)
Most steals in career NCAA Tournament games (22)
Most points in career SEC Tournament games (191)
Most field goals made in career SEC Tournament games (70)
Most field goal attempts in career SEC Tournament games (124)
Most free throws made in career SEC Tournament games (51)
Most free throw attempts in career SEC Tournament games (52)
Best free throw percentage in career SEC Tourn. games (.823 (51-62)
Most rebounds in career SEC Tournament games (96)
Most defensive rebounds in career SEC Tournament games (77)
Most blocked shots in career SEC Tournament games (42)

Season

1st – Free throws made in a season (186 in 2017-18)
1st – Free throw attempts in a season (254 in 2017-18)
1st – Defensive rebounds in a season (276 in 2017-18)
1st – Blocked shots in a season (105 in 2017-18)
1st – Blocked shots average in a season (3.2 in 2017-18)
1st – Games played in a season (37 in 2014-15)
2nd – 20-Point games in a season (21 in 2017-18)
2nd – Free throws made in a season (160 in 2016-17)

2nd – Rebounds in a season (391 in 2017-18)
2nd – Double-doubles in a season (24 in 2017-18)
2nd – Blocked shots in a season (103 in 2015-16)
2nd – Blocked shots average in a season (3.1 in 2015-16)
3rd –  Points in a season (747 in 2017-18)
3rd – Blocked shots in a season (90 in 2016-17)
3rd – Blocked shots average in a season (2.6 in 2016-17)
3rd – Points in a season (747 in 2017-18)
4th – Field goal percentage in a season (.588 (233-396) in 2016-17)
4th – Offensive rebounds in a season (115 in 2017-18)
5th – Free throw attempts in a season (217 in 2016-17)
5th – Field goals made in a season (278 in 2017-18)
5th – Rebounding average in a season (11.8 in 2017-18)
1st – Points in an SEC season (287 in 2017-18)
1st – 20-Point games in an SEC season (9 in 2017-18)
1st – Field goal percentage in an SEC season (.635 (99-156) in 2016-17)
1st – Rebounding average in an SEC season (12.8 in 2017-18)
1st – Blocked shots in an SEC season (53 in 2015-16)
1st – Blocked shots average in an SEC season (3.3 in 2015-16)
2nd – Scoring average in an SEC season (22.1 in 2017-18)
2nd – Rebounds in an SEC season (166 in 2017-18)
2nd – Offensive rebounds in an SEC season (53 in 2017-18)
2nd – Double-doubles in an SEC season (9 in 2017-18)
2nd – Blocked shots average in an SEC season (3.2 in 2017-18)
3rd – Defensive rebounds in an SEC season (113 in 2017-18)
3rd – Blocked shots in an SEC season (42 in 2017-18)
4th – Blocked shots average in an SEC season (2.2 in 2016-17)
5th – Rebounds in an SEC season (136 in 2015-16)
5th – Points in an SEC season (260 in 2015-16)
5th – 20-point games in an SEC season (7 in 2016-17)
5th – Blocked shots in an SEC season (32 in 2014-15)
Most points scored by a senior (747 in 2017-18)
Most rebounds by a senior (391 in 2017-18)
Best rebounding average by a senior (11.8 in 2017-18)
Most double-doubles by a senior (24 in 2017-18)
Most free throws made by a freshman (131 in 2014-15)
Most free throws made by a junior (160 in 2016-17)
Most free throws made by a senior (186 in 2017-18)
Most free throw attempts by a freshman (198 in 2014-15)
Most free throw attempts by a senior (254 in 2017-18)
Most games played by a freshman (37 in 2014-15)
Most offensive rebounds by a senior (115 in 2017-18)
Most defensive rebounds by a sophomore (199 in 2015-16)
Most defensive rebounds by a senior (276 in 2017-18)
Most blocked shots by a sophomore (103 in 2015-16)
Most blocked shots by a junior (90 in 2016-17)
Most blocked shots by a senior (105 in 2017-18)
Most points in a single NCAA Tournament (115 in 2017)
Most rebounds in a single NCAA Tournament (53 in 2017)
Most offensive rebounds in a single NCAA Tournament (20 in 2017)
Most defensive rebounds in a single NCAA Tournament (34 in 2018)
Most free throws made in a single NCAA Tournament (33 in 2017)
Most free throw attempts in a single NCAA Tournament (41 in 2017)
Most blocked shots in a single NCAA Tournament (16 in 2017)
Most points in a single SEC Tournament (61 in 2018)
Best scoring average in a single SEC Tournament (20.3 in 2018)
Most field goals made in a single SEC Tournament (23 in 2018)
Most free throws made in a single SEC Tournament (19 in 2017)
Most free throw attempts in a single SEC Tournament (25 in 2017)
Best free throw percentage in a single SEC Tourn. (.938 (15-16) in 2018)
Most rebounds in a single SEC Tournament (31 in 2018)
Most defensive rebounds in a single SEC Tournament (25 in 2018)
Most blocked shots in a single SEC Tournament (16 in 2017)

Game

1st – Free throw percentage in a game (1.000 (14-14) vs. Hampton, 11/20/16)
1st – Defensive rebounds in a game (17 vs. LSU, 2/22/18)
2nd – Rebounds in a game (24 vs. LSU, 2/22/18)
2nd – Blocked shots in a game (8 at Temple, 12/21/17; 8 vs. Texas A&M, 1/17/16; 8 at Kentucky, 1/14/16)
3rd – Free throws made in a game (15 vs. Rutgers, 11/24/17)
3rd – Defensive rebounds in a game (16 vs. St. John’s, 11/25/17)
4th – Free throws made in a game (14 vs. Hampton, 11/20/16)
4th – Free throw attempts in a game (18 at Maryland, 11/13/17)
1st – Defensive rebounds in an SEC game (17 vs. LSU, 2/22/18)
1st – Blocked shots in an SEC game (8 vs. Texas A&M, 1/17/16; 8 at Kentucky, 1/14/16)
2nd – Rebounds in an SEC game (24 vs. LSU, 2/22/18)
3rd – Rebounds in an SEC game (19 at Kentucky, 3/1/15)
3rd – Blocked shots in an SEC game (7 vs. Arkansas, 1/25/18)
4th – Defensive rebounds in an SEC game (14 at Kentucky, 3/1/15)
5th – Blocked shots in an SEC game (6 vs. Missouri, 1/10/16/; 6 at Kentucky, 3/1/15)
Most rebounds by a freshman (19 at Kentucky, 3/1/15)
Most free throw attempts by a freshman (15 vs. LSU, 2/12/15)
Best free throw percentage by a freshman (1.000 (5-5) vs. Mississippi State, 2/26/15)
Most defensive rebounds by a freshman (14 at Kentucky, 3/1/15)
Most free throws made in a game at Colonial Life Arena (14 vs. Hampton, 11/20/16)
Most rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game (19 vs. Stanford, 3/31/17)
Most blocked shots in an NCAA Tournament game (5 vs. NC A&T, 3/16/18)
Best free throw percentage in an NCAA Tournament game (1.000 (10-10) vs. Quinnipiac, 3/25/17)
Most blocked shots in an SEC Tournament game (7 vs. Georgia, 3/3/17)

Career Summary

* Most decorated athlete of any sport at South Carolina, including first national player of the year selection in women’s basketball after unanimously collecting the honor in 2017-18

* First three-time SEC Player of the Year in league history

* Program’s first four-time All-American, three-time First-Team All-American and four-time First-Team All-SEC selection

* Holds 86 school records, including 11 career marks, and has a total of 166 top-five entries

* No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft by the Las Vegas Aces, the first top pick in program history and the sixth in SEC history

* Was team’s top scorer and second-leading rebounder in 2016-17 National Championship season

Senior Year (2017-18)

* Unanimous national player of the year and First-Team All-America selection

* Became three-time SEC Player of the Year, the first in league history, and was SEC Tournament MVP for second-straight season

* Finished season ranked seventh in the nation in scoring average, 11th in rebounding average and fifth in blocked shots average – the only player ranked among the nation’s top 35 in all three categories

* Selected to be a team captain for the second-straight season

* Team’s top scorer in 25 of her 33 games and top rebounder 30 times

* 23 20-point games among her 32 double-digit scoring outings this season

* Averaged a double-double (22.8 ppg, 12.0 rpg) in the NCAA Tournament

* After a week away from the basketball court, was cleared the day of the SEC Tournament opener and went on to average 20.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in 26.3 minutes per game off the bench to claim Tournament MVP honors

* Scored eight of her 16 points in the SEC Tournament title game against #2/2 Mississippi State (Mar. 4) in the third quarter as the Bulldogs looked to mount a comeback from an 11-point deficit and went on to focus on rebounding in the fourth quarter, pulling in four of her game-high eight in the final 10 minutes to seal the victory

* Broke the Gamecocks’ all-time scoring record in the SEC Tournament semifinals against #19/18 Georgia (Mar. 3), hitting the mark in one less game than Sheila Foster who held the record for 36 years

* Burst into the SEC Tournament with 24 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks in just 19 minutes against #12/12 Tennessee (Mar. 2)

* Turned in a legendary Senior Night performance with 27 points and 24 rebounds against #24/- LSU (Feb. 22), becoming the first Gamecock to record a 20/20 game since Jan. 5, 1981, and just the fourth Gamecock ever to hit those marks … the last such game against a nationally ranked opponent was March 10, 1978 … needed just 12:02 of game time to get a double-double

* Recorded her 1,000th career rebound against Arkansas (Jan. 25) to become just the 13th player in SEC history to amass 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds

* Netted her 2,000th career point against Auburn (Jan. 11), becoming just the third Gamecock all-time to hit the mark

* Posted a career-high 34 points against #6/6 Notre Dame (Nov. 26) for her third entry on the Gamecocks’ list of 30-point games against nationally ranked foes – the most of any other player on the 10-game list

Junior Year (2016-17)

* Unanimous All-America selection and finalist for the three primary national player of the year awards

* Repeated as SEC Player of the Year from the league’s coaches and the AP

* Named NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player and SEC Tournament MVP, leading team to both championships

* Selected as a team captain

* Ranks 14th in the nation in field goal percentage and 19th in blocks, ranking third and first in the SEC, respectively

* Among league top 10 in scoring (2nd) and rebounding (8th) … in conference play, was second in blocked shots (2.2) and ranked in the top 10 in scoring (4th, 18.2) and rebounding (7th, 8.5)

* Was the team’s top scorer 20 times in her 35 games, scoring in double figures 31 times on the season

* Led team with 19.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game the NCAA Tournament, shooting 59.4 percent from the field at the event to power team to program’s first national championship

* Averaged 21.3 points on 63.2 percent shooting (48-of-76) to go with 9.7 rebounds per game from Feb. 19 – March 5 to help secure Carolina’s fourth-straight SEC regular-season title and third-straight league tournament championship

* Balanced scoring in each half of the national title game against #7/7 Mississippi State (Apr. 2), dominating the second and fourth quarters en route to a team-high 23 points to close out her 11th double-double of the season

* Was the Gamecocks’ rebounding presence in the first half of the national semifinal against #6/6 Stanford (Mar. 31) and finished with a career-high tying 19 boards in the game, including eight in the third quarter as the Gamecocks erased a nine-point halftime deficit … scored five points of a 7-0 fourth-quarter run after the Cardinal closed within three

* Protected the rim down the stretch in the NCAA Elite Eight against #10/13 Florida State (Mar. 25) with two blocks over the final 26 seconds to deny a late Seminole rally … finished with four blocks and scored 16 points in just 21 minutes of action after dealing with foul trouble throughout the night

* Delivered the game-winning bucket in the NCAA Tournament second-round against Arizona State (Mar. 19) after following her own shot to put Carolina up 69-68 with 48 seconds to play … knocked in two free throws with 15 seconds left to stretch the lead to 71-68 and finish 7-of-7 from the charity stripe … posted a double-double that was highlighted by a game-high 21 points

* Capped off a dominant showing at the SEC Tournament with seven points, eight rebounds and two blocks in the fourth quarter to rally the Gamecocks in the title game against #6/7 Mississippi State (Mar. 5) … finished with 15 points and added four blocks, all coming in the second half

* Thrived in the paint against #22/- Kentucky (Feb. 26) to notch her second-straight double-double after finishing with team highs in points (25) and boards (10) … went 4-of-4 in the final period to deny a Kentucky comeback

* Set the tone early at Texas A&M (Feb. 23) that team would control the paint even without the injured Alaina Coates, posting a double-double (12 pts/10 rebs) in the opening 20 minutes … finished with a season-high 15 boards

* Active on the defensive end against Vanderbilt (Feb. 16) with a career-best five steals, four of which yielded points

* Paced Carolina’s offense early at #1/1 UConn (Feb. 13), reaching double figures less than 11 minutes into the game … protected the rim with three blocks to help hold Huskies to a season-low 66 points

* Had her way inside early against #4/4 Mississippi State (Jan. 23) with 16 first-half points on 7-of-8 shooting … in second half, knocked down a tough turnaround jumper to extend lead late before converting two free throws to again push the advantage to three with two seconds to play

* Dominant performance at #14/15 Texas (Dec. 1), delivering on both ends of the court with a career-high 31 points with nine in the fourth quarter, including two crucial putbacks that stifled any chance of a Longhorn comeback

* Posted 11 of her team-high 17 points against #4/4 Louisville (Nov. 27) in first half to help build eight-point halftime lead … also handed out career-best five assist.

*

* Sophomore Year (2015-16)

* Consensus All-America selection and finalist for the three national player of the year awards

* Second player in league history to earn SEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors in the same season

* Ranked 12th in the nation in blocked shots (3.12) and 38th in field goal percentage (.531), leading the SEC in both categories

* Was also among SEC’s top five scorers (5th, 16.1 pgg) and rebounders (4th, 8.7 rpg) and ranked 10th in free throw percentage (.723)

* In SEC play, was second in scoring (16.3 ppg) and fifth in rebounding (8.5), leading the league in field goal percentage (.545) and blocked shots (3.3)

* Team’s top scorer 15 times – Ohio St., UNCG, vs. Arizona St., vs. CSUB, at Hawaii, Duke, at Ky., Texas A&M, Ole Miss, at Texas A&M, UConn, at Tenn., at Ala., at Ole Miss, vs. Miss. St.

* Team’s top rebounder 14 times – Ohio St., vs. Arizona St., vs. CSUB, at Hawaii, Duke, Elon, Ark., at Ky., at Miss. St., at Texas A&M, Georgia, LSU, vs. Miss. St., Jacksonville

* Turned in a complete game in NCAA Sweet 16 against Syracuse (Mar. 25), contributing in assists, blocks and steals in addition to her double-double … posted nine of her 15 points and six of her 10 rebounds in the first half to help Gamecocks build double-digit lead

* Became the second player in program history to reach 1,000 career points as a sophomore during the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Kansas State (Mar. 20)

* Shot 11-of-12 from the free throw line and nearly averaged a double-double (15.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg) at the SEC Tournament

* Led team in points (19) and rebounds (13) in the championship of the SEC Tournament against #16/16 Mississippi State (Mar. 6), falling just short of a first-half double-double with nine points and 10 boards in the opening 20 minutes

* Helped South Carolina build an early double-digit advantage in the SEC Tournament semifinals (March 5) against #13/13 Kentucky with eight first-quarter points … finished the contest 8-of-12 from the field

* Posted team’s best perfect shooting night of the season (8-8) at Ole Miss (Feb. 25), netting eight points in game-changing 16-3 run to close the second quarter

* Provided the team’s most consistent offense at #24/- Tennessee (Feb. 15), tallying 11 of the team’s 24 first-half points and added six of the second half’s first eight points to keep Lady Vols within reach

* Played just 23 minutes against #1/1 UConn (Feb. 8) due to injury, but tied for team-high honors with 13 points, including 4-of-4 shooting in first half

* Carried offense early at #10/10 Texas A&M (Jan. 31), scoring 17 of team’s 25 first-half points and all eight of its second-quarter points, adding a putback and key defensive boards late in the game

* Overcame tough shooting night at #10/10 Mississippi State (Jan. 24) to record two of her four blocks and two of her 11 rebounds in the final 2:08, including one of each in the final 13 seconds

* Delivered second-straight 26-point, eight-block game, adding eight rebounds against #15/11 Texas A&M (Jan. 17), scoring team’s first six points of second half to reclaim lead and adding five during 1:12 span of fourth quarter

* Powered win at #9/9 Kentucky (Jan. 14) with six of her career-high eight blocks coming in second half, along with 15 of her game-high 26 points, including eight in 15-2 fourth-quarter run

* Named MVP of Rainbow Wahine Showdown, averaging 20.7 points on 65.0 percent shooting (26-of-40), 8.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, helping her to SEC co-Player of the Week honors as well (Nov. 24-30)

* Grabbed three of her fourth-quarter rebounds, including two offensive, in the final seven seconds of tie game, getting fouled on the final one and hitting two free throws with 0.6 seconds to deliver the win over #16/18 Arizona State (Nov. 27)

* Hit from the left block to launch a 10-4 run that broke a 58-58 tie with 3:50 left to play and put the Gamecocks up for good at UCLA (Nov. 22)

* Scored 12 of her team-high 20 points against #6/10 Ohio State (Nov. 13) in the fourth quarter, including six of the team’s 10 points in the final 2:35 to deliver the win

*

* Freshman Year (2014-15)

* Earned Third-Team All-America honors from the Associated Press, the first Gamecock freshman to capture the honor

* Named SEC Freshman of the Year (Coaches, AP) and a First-Team All-SEC selection by the league’s coaches

* Played in every game with one start (Southern Cal)

* Ranked 12th in the league in points (13.1) and rebounds (6.6) – only freshman among league’s top 20 in both categories – coming in second in blocks (1.8)

* Recorded five double-doubles

* Scored in double figures 29 times with five 20-point games

* Led the team in scoring 15 times – Clemson, vs. Wisconsin, NCCU, Charlotte, Savannah State, vs. Liberty, Auburn, at LSU, Texas A&M, Alabama, LSU, Vanderbilt, at Kentucky, Savannah State (NCAA), vs. Notre Dame (NCAA)

* Was the team’s top rebounder nine times – San Diego State, vs. Syracuse, NCCU, vs. Liberty, at LSU, at Alabama, Mississippi State, at Kentucky, Savannah State (NCAA)

* Posted three rebounds, two points and blocked the first potential game-winning shot in the final 3:45 of the national semifinal against #2/2 Notre Dame (Apr. 5)

* Averaged 3.0 blocks in the SEC Tournament (3 games), including four against Arkansas (Mar. 6) in quarterfinals

* Repeatedly turned away #5/5 Tennessee (Mar. 8) in the SEC Tournament championship, scoring the last four points of the first half as Gamecocks rallied for a three-point halftime lead, then scored four straight points after Lady Vols got within three midway through the second half

* Dominated at #13/15 Kentucky (Mar. 1) for fifth double-double of the season – grabbed school freshman-record 19 rebounds and posted six blocks, a Gamecocks freshman record in an SEC game

* Became first freshman in Gamecock history to post back-to-back 20-point games in SEC play with 20 points against Vanderbilt (Feb. 15), including seven during a 9-0 run that built a double-digit lead late in the first half

* Overpowered LSU (Feb. 12) with career-high 26 points in 25 minutes, including eight points of the Gamecocks’ 16-4 run that broke open the game midway through the first half

* Picked up fourth SEC Freshman of the Week award after averaging 15.3 points and 6.7 rebounds in wins over Texas A&M, Alabama and Ole Miss

* Captured SEC and USBWA National Freshman of the Week honors after leading team to three wins (Dec. 1-7)

* Capped the team’s comeback from four points down in the final 42 seconds at #9/8 Duke (Dec. 7) with a game-winning putback with two seconds left … three of her four made field goals gave team the lead at different points of the second half

* Recorded first career double-double against No. 22/22 Syracuse (Nov. 28), including critical play in final two minutes after Gamecocks had taken a narrow lead, recording a blocked shot, a putback and a steal

*

High School

* Tabbed WBCA, Naismith and Parade Magazine Player of the Year as a senior (2013-14)

* Rated No. 1 recruit in the nation by espnW HoopGurlz (Class of 2014)

* Named 2014 McDonald’s All-American and South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year (2013-14)

* Earned state player of the year honors from South Carolina independent School Association (SCISA) the last three years of her career (2012-14)

* Guided Heathwood to 2014 state championship in 2013-14, erasing the runner-up finish of her junior year

* Averaged 34.4 points 13.9 rebounds and 5.0 blocks as a senior, shooting 57 percent in 2013-14

* Was a five-time South Carolina Independent School Association All-State selection (2010-14)

* Also earned all-state and all-region honors in volleyball in 2012

Personal

* Daughter of Eva and Roscoe Wilson, Jr., has an older brother, Renaldo

* Father played basketball professionally in Europe for 10 seasons

* Majoring in mass communications

[ilaw-at-panitik]

The Finalists of the 41st National Book Awards

The National Book Development Board (NBDB) and the Manila Critics Circle (MCC) announce the finalists of the 41st National Book Awards, an annual prize honoring the most outstanding book titles written, designed, and published in the Philippines.

For this cycle of the National Book Awards, a total of 235 titles were submitted across 34 categories consisting of 7 languages: Filipino, English, Bikol, Binisaya, Hiligaynon, Tausug, and Waray. Following the awarding of winners during the 40th cycle in May 2023, the 41st iteration of the awards is slated to take place in February 2024.

See the full list here.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Wanda Coleman

Wanda Coleman was born in 1946 in Los Angeles, California. Coleman wrote twenty books of poetry and prose. Her writing, regarded as prescient and innovative, focused on racism and on the marginalization that came with living in poverty in her home state of California. Coleman is considered a transformative figure in the literary landscape of LA. Her book Bathwater Wine won the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and her book Mercurochrome was a finalist for the 2001 National Book Award for Poetry.

Wanda Coleman died in 2013 at the age of 67.

[fiercynn]

palestinian poets: george abraham

george abraham (they/he/هو) is a palestinian american poet, performance arist, and writer who was born and raised on unceded timucuan lands (jacksonville, FL). their debut poetry collection birthright (button poetry) won the arab american book award and the big other book award, and was a lambda literary award finalist. he is also the author of the chapbooks al youm and the specimen's apology. their collaborations include co-editing a palestinian poetry anthology with noor hindi (haymarket books, 2025), and a performance art project titled EVE with fargo nissim tbakhi. 

they are a recipient of fellowships from kundiman, the arab american national museum, the boston foundation, the national performance network, and the MAP fund, and more. their writing has appeared in poetry magazine, the nation, the american poetry review, guernica, the baffler, the paris review, mizna, and many other journals and anthologies. a graduate of swarthmore college and harvard university, they have taught at emerson college, and are currently a litowitz MFA+MA candidate in poetry at northwestern university. he is also currently executive editor of the whiting award-winning journal mizna.

you can follow them on twitter @IntifadaBatata.

IF YOU READ JUST ONE POEM BY GEORGE ABRAHAM, MAKE IT THIS ONE

OTHER POEMS ONLINE THAT I LOVE BY GEORGE ABRAHAM

Field Notes on Terror & Beginnings at poetry daily

Love Letter to the Eve of the End of the World at the margins

Of Nation, at rusted radishes: beirut literary and art journal

Searching for a Palestinian After at the nation

Stage Directions for a Representation in which Eve and Adam travel through their first checkpoint at mosaic theatre company

the ghosts of the dead sea are rising at the drift

ars poetica in which every pronoun is FREE PALESTINE at the margins

“from UNIVERSAL THEORY IN WHICH EVERY FAILED ATTEMPT AT LOVE IS A SOULMATE FROM AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE” at fiyah literary magazine

Ode to My Swollen, Mono-Infected Spleen at brooklyn poets

The Olive Tree Speaks of Deforestation to my body at crabfat magazine

arab/queer vs. Imaginary at shade literary arts

self-portrait with second-degree sunburn at

[ summer / winter ] is the worst time to lose a [ country / lover ] at wildness

maqam of moonlight, for the wandering at the rumpus

against perturbation at the scores

apology, at cordite poetry review

i also adore this 2021 essay of abraham's at guernica magazine called teaching poetry in the palestinian apocalypse: towards a collective, lyric "i".

[johannamation]

THE GHOSTKEEPER is a semi-finalist for the Teen Readers Choice Awards!!! 👻 🎉

This national book award is decided by teens, ages 13-19! Thank you for this nomination, I am beyond honored! 🤩

!!VOTING CLOSES NOVEMBER 15!!

✌️ Teens, go vote for THE GHOSTKEEPER!