Jhumpa Lahiri among 10 shortlisted for US National Book Award

Indian-American Pulitzer Prize- winning author Jhumpa Lahiri is among 10 novelists shortlisted for the prestigious US National Book Award 2013 in the fiction category for her new work 'The Lowland', which is a tale of two brothers set in Kolkata of the 1960s.

The National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the award in fiction here today, nearly 10 days after she made it to this year's Man Booker Prize shortlist for the same book.

Finalists in the Young People's Literature, Poetry, Nonfiction and Fiction categories would be announced on October 16 and the winners will be named at a ceremony here on November 20. The National Book Award is one of America's most prestigious literary prizes that identify and reward quality writing.

Among this year's longlist for fiction are Tom Drury for his work 'Pacific', Elizabeth Graver for 'The End of the Point' and Rachel Kushner for 'The Flamethrowers'. Born in London and based in New York, 46-year-old Lahiri is the daughter of immigrants from West Bengal.

Lahiri is the author of three previous books. Her debut collection of stories, 'Interpreter of Maladies', won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her novel 'The Namesake' was adapted into a film of the same name by acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair.

Her second book of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth, was named one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review.