The Literary Postseason
A Glorified Presentation of our Biases, Preferences & Tastes by Reggie Bailey
Stories From the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana is a linked story collection consisting of 8 stories that all take place in Banneker Terrace, a fictional high rise in Harlem. Each story centers the perspective of one of the eponymous tenants while gentrification plays the Big Bad Wolf in the background. This collection shines bright because it is ultimately about the residents of Banneker Terrace; never allowing the Big Bad Wolf's bark from the background to distract or detract from the tenants who combine to form the heart of this masterwork. The 8 different tenants centered in the 8 stories are followed as they experience a climatic or impactful moment in their life & oftentimes what underlies these moments is their pursuit of the American Dream.
An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie is thematically an exploration in morality & its relationship to Christianity, Islam & the British Law. Said exploration is taken primarily through the character of Sayon Hughes, an ambitious protagonist with a checkered past (early on we learned that he murdered a man) whose goal is to leave the Ends for Clifton & a beautiful house on the hill that he has had his sights on since he was a child. We also see his journey in love as it is assumed around the Ends that he will marry Shona Jennings, the woman who has been the love of his life since their (even) younger days, but he must make sure that she doesn't find out about his recent indiscretion, especially from a witness to the incident who is nearer & dearer to her than Sayon expected.
Sidik's story collection & Moses's novel are two of my favorite books that were published in 2022. Their respective work spoke to my biases, preferences & tastes in a special way & as a result they sit alongside past, but still recent, books that I've read & enjoyed like A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton (2017), A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley (2018), Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires (2018), The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (2020) & Assembly by Natasha Brown (2021). The reason I mention these other 5 works is because they all received accolades during the Literary Postseason; accolades that I hope can obtained by the combination of Stories From the Tenants Downstairs & An Olive Grove in Ends.
"Wait, Reggie. What is the Literary Postseason?" I'm glad you asked.
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The last quarter of each calendar year—October through December—is what I declare to be the most fun part of the literary year. The reasons for this declaration are endless: The Booker Prize winner is announced, the National Book Award winners are announced, The Center Fiction First Novel Prize winner is announced, the winner of the Kirkus Prizes are announced, the winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, the Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist is announced, with a shortlist that follows not too long after, ditto with the Tournament of Books. You also get lists & I mean lists, lists, lists, lists, lists. Some lists even go an extra step further & provide Top Ten Books of the year. As a list lover & an awards enthusiast, I've sometimes pondered on whether or not the last three months of each calendar year are the best example of Heaven on Earth that we have.
That, my dear readers, is what I call the Literary Postseason (It is, however, only the beginning because it continues well into the next calendar year with the arrival of the National Books Critics Circle Awards, the Pulitzers, the NAACP Image Awards, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards, The Dylan Thomas Prize, the International Booker Prize, the NYPL Young Lions Award, the PEN America Literary Awards, the PEN/Faulkner Award, among many others). After a long year of reading books that released within a calendar year (or chosen timeline), all of these institutions who are invested in the business of books, the business of reading, the business of stories, the business of literature, step away from their reading chairs & into our timelines & news feeds, to confront the rest of the literary community with their lists. Enticing us to take a look at what they call "the best'' literature offered during the calendar year.
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I mentioned some other faves earlier & I will now list out some of their accolades collected during the Literary Postseason:
A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton (2017)
• Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.
• Winner of the Crook's Corner Prize.
• Winner of the First Novelist Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.
Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires (2018)
• Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.
• Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize.
• Nominated for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award.
• Finalist for the Kirkus Prize.
• Winner of the L.A. Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.
• Winner of the PEN Open Book Award.
• Winner of the Whiting Award.
A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley (2018)
• Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction.
• Winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (2020)
• Finalist for the National Book Award for fiction in 2020.
• Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award.
• Winner of the Story Prize.
• Winner of the L.A. Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.
Assembly by Natasha Brown (2021)
• Named a Top Ten book of 2021 was Publisher's Weekly.
• Named a Top 20 book of 2021 by The Atlantic.
• Finalist for L.A. Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.
Do I want the books that I consider faves to be nominated for every Prize? Hell, do I want books that I consider faves to every prize that they end up nominated for? Of course. Do I want to see them appear on all of the end of the year lists—including those who release top ten books of the year? Absolutely. Will that ever happen in the way I want it to? Of course not. As a result, I see all the Accolades accumulated by some of my faves & I am satisfied because for them to stand out, even this much, among all of the art released in a given year says a lot about the impact they had on some of the more influential literary communities in the English speaking world.
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But what happens in the event I decide my favorite books from the year are being slighted by these organizations whom I consistently look forward to seeing when the Literary Postseason arrives? Do these people, whom I mention when I discuss some of the accolades of my other faves, all of a sudden become invalid? Do they, all of a sudden, not know what they are talking about because Stories From the Tenants Downstairs & An Olive Grove in Ends isn't nominated for their book prizes, or making Appearances on their End of Year Lists? Is it true that as of now, only Kirkus Reviews, NPR & The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence are the only Literary communities worth paying attention to because they are the only ones who I've seen pay some type of homage to at least one of (or both in Kirkus's case) of the 2022 releases I enjoyed reading the most? The short answer to all of these questions is simple: No.
Sure, I could make my own 10 Best Reads of 2022 list that is based on all the books I've read in 2022 (whether they were published in 2022 or not) in response to the New York Times. I can reach out to Letti & Poonam again to do another IG Live showcasing the best books we read in 2022. But does that mean my list is better than The New York Times, or the Washington Posts, or the Guardians? No, absolutely not. I could even make the argument that their lists are actually better than ours, especially those lists among us which consists of the biases, preferences & tastes of one individual, since their lists at least consist of several individual's biases, preferences & tastes. They present us with what appears to be an oligarchy of opinions whereas myriad other lists present monopolies. Both structures aren't the best options in the world, but if I had to choose one then I'll go with the oligarchy, especially if they aren’t imposing drastic limitations on their list.
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An Olive Grove in Ends was only reviewed, from my research, by The Guardian, Kirkus Reviews & Publisher’s Weekly. Publisher's Weekly gave it a favorable review, but didn't give it a starred review. Kirkus gave it a glowing starred review & called it "the most exciting U.K. debut in years," & selected it as one of the 100 best works of fiction to release in 2022. The Guardian also named it a best fiction book of 2022. Perhaps the real problem is that the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, NPR, etc. didn't have anyone on their staff read & review it. Based on my calculations, seeing that An Olive Grove in Ends was thought to be a best book of the year by 2 of the 3 (or 66% for the math whizzes) publications that reviewed it, I have a tough time believing that it wouldn't have arrived on more Year End Lists if it were simply read & reviewed more.
Stories From the Tenants Downstairs received Rave reviews from all over: The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Starred reviews from Kirkus & Publisher’s Weekly, among other places, but as of this writing it's only appeared on the extensive (yet quite fun) NPR Book Concierge, was listed as top 100 work of fiction in 2022 by Kirkus Reviews & was a finalist for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Excellence.
Are An Olive Grove in Ends & Stories From the Tenants Downstairs getting the attention & acknowledgement that I think books that speak to my specific biases, preferences & tastes deserve? No, not at all. Is there still time for appropriate recognition to be given? Absolutely. Will it come? Time will tell.
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One of the big reasons why some of the discourse around the Literary Postseason is flawed is because too many people bring passionate "objectivity" to these inherently subjective endeavors. Neither The New York Times, The Washington Post nor your favorite Bookstagrammer or BookToker can tell you what "The Best" Books of any given year are. All of these readers have specific biases, preferences & tastes that color what they deem “The Best.” I don't read much Sci-Fi or Fantasy & I don't read any romance novels, so can I truly speak to "The Best" fiction that comes out every year. Not at all, but I can speak to my favorites & ultimately that is what we are all doing during the Literary Postseason. We all believe that our taste is strong & some ("many" is probably more appropriate) of us believe that our taste is stronger than others.
The Literary Postseason is a tremendous glorification of the biases, preferences & tastes of specific individuals from specific institutions due to the stages they stand on & the number of the attendants in the arena where the stage lives. You can decide to take these lists for what they are & be at peace with them or, you can decide to form an oligarchy of tastemakers who choose what they want to read from the lay of the land during the year, read those choices & decide what was the best work from the work that you choose.
Limits do not belong in literature & they also do not belong in literary citizenship. The power to create a presence & create change within the Literary Postseason exists within us if we are not satisfied with "The Best Books” lists we are given year after year.
-RB