Professor of Literary Arts Laird Hunt will be among the judges on the fiction panel for the 2020 National Book Awards.  Laird is the author of seven novels, with an eighth, Zorrie, forthcoming in 2021.  He joined Brown’s fiction faculty in July, 2018, and works with both graduate and undergraduate students.  The National Book Awards were established in 1950 to honor the best writing published in the U.S.  It is overseen by the National Book Foundation, “whose mission is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture.”  This year’s award winners will be announced in November, 2020.