Genre fiction is recognized with this year’s alternative Nobel prize for literature

Earlier this year, the Swedish academy announced that it would not issue a prize for literature. The announcement prompted a flurry of handwringing within the literary community, and the creation of an alternative award to ensure that a literary prize would still be issued in 2018. Today, the organization behind the alternative award announced that authors Maryse Condé, Haruki Murakami, Kim Thúy, and Neil Gaiman have been selected as the four finalists for the 2018 New Prize in Li