The finalists for the tenth Thurber Prize for American Humor were announced by Thurber House, the literary center housed in the late humorist James Thurber's former home in Columbus, Ohio. The five-thousand-dollar award, given previously to writers such as David Sedaris, Christopher Buckley, and Ian Frazier, is the premier honor for literary humor writing given in the nation.

Contending for this year's five-thousand-dollar prize are former MTV veejay and Rolling Stone writer Jancee Dunn for her second memoir Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo? (Villard); Steve Hely, who has written for The Late Show With David Letterman and 30 Rock, for his novel, How I Became a Famous Novelist (Grove/Atlantic); and Rhoda Janzen, a former poet laureate of California who holds a PhD from University of California in Los Angeles, for her memoir Mennonite in a Little Black Dress (Henry Holt).

The winner, who will also provide "guest entertainment" at the Thurber House's annual gala in December, will be announced on October 4.

The Washington Post reported this morning that literary agent Elaine Koster died on August 10 in Manhattan. Koster started her own agency in 1998, and her clients over the years have included Monique Truong and best-selling author Khaled Hosseini, among others. She was 69 years old and is survived by her husband and daughter. 

The Center for Fiction in New York City announced its shortlist for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize (formerly known as simply the First Novel Prize). The honorees include three small press authors, one of whom was later published by a major house after a prize nomination led to increased demand.

That writer is Karl Marlantes, nominated for Matterhorn (Grove/Atlantic), which was initially acquired by editor Tom Farber at El León Literary Arts, a small outfit in Berkeley, California. "This huge book couldn't at first find an agent or a publisher," journalist Leah Garchik wrote of the novel in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Farber recognized its power. Take heart, writers."

The other finalists for the Center for Fiction's ten-thousand-dollar award are:

Michelle Hoover, a descendant of generations of farming families, for The Quickening (Other Press). She now teaches at Boston University and the Boston literary center Grub Street.

Jessica Francis Kane of New York City for The Report (Graywolf Press), which follows her debut story collection, Bending Heaven (Counterpoint, 2002).

Ethiopian-born Maaza Mengiste, a graduate of the MFA program at New York University, for Beneath the Lion's Gaze, published by Norton. In 2007 she was named a "Literary Idol" by New York Magazine's readers.

Julie Orringer for The Invisible Bridge, her follow-up to her debut story collection, How to Breathe Underwater, both published by Knopf. She is an Iowa Writers' Workshop alumna and a former Wallace Stegner fellow at Stanford.

Drew Perry of North Carolina, who has also published poetry, for This Is Exactly Like You (Viking).

Nashville (via New York City) writer Adam Ross for Mr. Peanut (Knopf). Ross received his MFA from Washington University.

The winner will be announced by last year's winner, John Pipkin, on December 6 at a ceremony in New York City. Each runner up will receive, for the first time in the prize's history, a one-thousand-dollar award.

In the video below, Marlantes discusses the urgency to write his novel, a project he worked on for thirty years. (Also on YouTube: Hoover reveals the historical materials, photographs and a journal, that inspired her book.)