A Thurber (maybe!) for Tabitha!

One of our favorite author-poet-teachers is in line for a major award!  (No, not the leg lamp from A Christmas Story! We're talking MAJOR award here!)

Lee Upton's 2024 novel Tabitha, Get Up! has been named as a semi-finalist for the 2026 Thurber Prize for American Humor! There are seven semi-finalists; three will be chosen as finalists in January, and the winner will be announced next spring in a special ceremony at Thurber House!

We're pleased and proud about Lee's selection, mostly because it's a terrific novel and she's a terrific writer!  We had a great discussion with Lee about Tabitha, Get Up when it first came out last year - and, because we're swell people who think mostly about the well-being of our listeners, we've coveniently added a link to that episode here, so you won't have to go looking all over the website for it:

The Musical Innertube - Volume 2, Number 146 - Lee Upton

Here's more about the prestigious Thurber Prize, from the Thurber Prize people themselves:

Awarded since 1997, the Thurber Prize for American Humor in Writing is one of the highest recognitions of the art of humor writing in the United States. The Thurber Prize for American Humor in Writing is awarded to one outstanding humor book each year. A committee of national judges selects three top finalists to appear at the annual award show, where the winner/winning book is crowned live. Past winners and finalists include Alexandra Petri, S.E. Boyd, Steven Rowley, James McBride, Damon Young, Simon Rich, Patricia Lockwood, Trevor Noah, Dave Barry, Alan Zweibel, David Sedaris, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show, The Onion, and Ian Frazier.

If you don't have your copy of Tabitha, Get Up yet, what are you waiting for?  Order it here!!  It's a Thurber Prize Semi-Finalist, for God's sake!

 Tabitha, Get Up | Sagging Meniscus Press

Best of luck, Lee!  We're rooting for you!!