Mountain Goats Frontman Nominated for National Book Award

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John Darnielle, frontman of Folk favorites The Mountain Goats, has been nominated a National Book Award for Wolf in White Van, his first novel. He seems just as shocked as we are.

Here's a full list of nominees:

????Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman (Grove Press/ Grove/Atlantic)?
Molly Antopol, The UnAmericans (W. W. Norton & Company)
John Darnielle, Wolf in White Van (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See (Scribner/ Simon & Schuster)
Phil Klay, Redeployment (The Penguin Press/ Penguin Group (USA))
Emily St.

John Mandel, Station Eleven (Alfred A. Knopf/ Random House)
Elizabeth McCracken, Thunderstruck & Other Stories (The Dial Press/ Random House)
Richard Powers, Orfeo (W.W. Norton & Company)
Marilynne Robinson, Lila (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Jane Smiley, Some Luck (Alfred A. Knopf/ Random House) ??

The list will be narrowed down to five finalists on October 15th and the winner will be announced on November 19th.??

Darnielle started The Mountain Goats in 1991 and for many years was their sole member.

The Mountain Goats became recognizable for their incredibly lo-fi recordings and out-of-left-field lyrical approach, which dealt with subjects such as abusive stepparents and the exclusivity of metal fans.??

The Mountain Goats latest, Transcendental Youth , is their 14th studio album and was released October 2nd, 2012 on Merge Records. The album focused around the nature of the recluse and how he/she fits into structured society.?

Wolf in White Van is out now from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.