History - American Writers & Writing - What Was And Might Have Been

 Viet Thanh Nguyen is a writer I think has much worthwhile to say. In The Washington Post, he published How the first National Book Awards reflected 1950s America.

He points out the vagaries of fame for writers and books. There is also a point made about the changing demographics of this country, where they enrich us as a people.

One of the major themes of literature by writers from minoritized populations is the erasure and silencing of those who are dominated, both past and present. That theme extends to how societies and juries read and recognize literature. While some of the National Book Award winners and finalists are undoubtedly phenomenal works, the lists from which they are drawn inevitably include between their lines the potential for alternative literary histories, composed of those who might have won and those never nominated. Even these alternate lists are a palimpsest, layered over a haunting possibility: the books that might have been written by those who were suppressed before they even had the opportunity to find a voice.

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