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Birdy (novel)
''Birdy'' is the debut novel of William Wharton, who was more than 50 years old when it was published. It won the U.S. National Book Award in category First Novel."National Book Awards – 1980"
. Retrieved 2012-02-28. (With essay by Dorianne Laux from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
• First novels or first works of fiction were recognized from 1980 to 1985.
''Birdy'' was a finalist in 1980, ultimately losing to ''

William Wharton (author)
Albert William Du Aime (November 7, 1925 – October 29, 2008), more commonly known by his pen name William Wharton, was an American-born author best known for his first novel '' Birdy'', which was also made into a critically acclaimed film of the same name in 1984. Early life, family and education Wharton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to "a poor, hard-working, Catholic family". He graduated from Upper Darby High School in 1943. (He was inducted into the school's Wall of Fame in 1997.) During World War II, Wharton served in the United States Army and was first assigned to an engineering unit. He was transferred to the infantry and was severely wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. His memoirs included an account of his role in the killing of German prisoners during the war. "War for me, though brief, had been a soul-shaking trauma. I was scared, miserable, and I lost confidence in human beings, especially myself." After his discharge, he attended the University of Cali ...
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Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker, who rose to prominence through his role as U.S. Marine Private/Sergeant J.T. "Joker" Davis in ''Full Metal Jacket''. His other film roles include the title character in '' Birdy'', the high school wrestler Louden Swain in ''Vision Quest'', FBI agent Mike Downey in ''Married to the Mob'', Joe Slovak in ''Gross Anatomy'', William Shaw in ''Cutthroat Island'', Drake Goodman in ''Pacific Heights'', Peter Foley in ''The Dark Knight Rises'', and Dr. Ralph Wyman in ''Short Cuts''. On television, Modine portrays the villainous Dr. Martin Brenner in Netflix's ''Stranger Things'', the oversexed Sullivan Groff on '' Weeds'', Dr. Don Francis in ''And the Band Played On'' and Ivan Turing in '' Proof''. Modine has been nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for his work in ''And the Band Played On'' and ''What the Deaf Man Heard'' and receive ...
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Novels Set In Philadelphia
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the histor ...
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Books About Birds
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arrangement is '' codex'' (plural, ''codices''). In the history of hand-held physical supports for extended written compositions or records, the codex replaces its predecessor, the scroll. A single sheet in a codex is a leaf and each side of a leaf is a page. As an intellectual object, a book is prototypically a composition of such great length that it takes a considerable investment of time to compose and still considered as an investment of time to read. In a restricted sense, a book is a self-sufficient section or part of a longer composition, a usage reflecting that, in antiquity, long works had to be written on several scrolls and each scroll had to be identified by the book it contained. Each part of Aristotle's ''Physics'' is called ...
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National Book Award-winning Works
National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, census-designated place * National, Nevada, ghost town * National, Utah, ghost town * National, West Virginia, unincorporated community Commerce * National (brand), a brand name of electronic goods from Panasonic * National Benzole (or simply known as National), former petrol station chain in the UK, merged with BP * National Car Rental, an American rental car company * National Energy Systems, a former name of Eco Marine Power * National Entertainment Commission, a former name of the Media Rating Council * National Motor Vehicle Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 1900-1924 * National Supermarkets, a defunct American grocery store chain * National String Instrument Corporation, a guitar company formed to manufacture the first resonator g ...
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American Novels Adapted Into Films
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * ...
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1978 Debut Novels
Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. * January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government. * January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. * January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany '' persona non grata''. * January 24 ** Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. ** Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convi ...
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1978 American Novels
Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. * January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government. * January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. * January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany ''persona non grata''. * January 24 ** Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. ** Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted priso ...
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Naomi Wallace
Naomi Wallace (born 1960) is an American playwright, screenwriter and poet from Kentucky. She is widely known for her plays, and has received several distinguished awards for her work. Biography Naomi Wallace was born in Prospect, Kentucky, to Henry F. Wallace, a photo journalist and correspondent for ''Time'' and ''Life'' magazines, and Sonja de Vries, a Dutch justice and human rights worker. Wallace obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampshire College. She then received two master's degrees from the University of Iowa. Currently, she divides her time between Kentucky and the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England (UK), where she lives with her partner, Bruce McLeod, with whom she has three children. Wallace has taught English literature, poetry and playwrighting at Yale University, UCLA, University of Iowa, Illinois State University, Merrimack College, Hampshire College, American University of Cairo, Vrije University of Amsterdam and other institutions. She has also wor ...
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Document (album)
''Document'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band R.E.M., released in September, 1987, by I.R.S. Records. It was the first album by the band to be produced by Scott Litt. Continuing in the vein of their previous album ''Lifes Rich Pageant'', ''Document'' features more audible lyrics and a harder rock sound in comparison to the band's earlier releases. The album became R.E.M.'s greatest success at the time, giving the band their first top 10 hit (" The One I Love") and album, peaking at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Composition ''Document'' was R.E.M.'s first album to be co-produced both by the band and Scott Litt; this was a collaboration that continued through the productions of ''Green'', '' Out of Time'', ''Automatic for the People'', ''Monster'', and ''New Adventures in Hi-Fi''. The album's clear production and muscular rock riffs both helped to move the band toward mainstream success and built on the work done by Don Gehman, who had produced their previous ...
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Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award. In the first few years of his career, he starred in a variety of films such as ''Valley Girl'' (1983), ''Peggy Sue Got Married'' (1986), ''Raising Arizona'' (1987), ''Moonstruck'' (1987) and '' Wild at Heart'' (1990). During this period, John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 36 listed him as one of 12 ''Promising New Actors of 1984''. For his performance in ''Leaving Las Vegas'' (1995), he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He subsequently appeared in more mainstream films, including '' The Rock'' (1996), ''Con Air'' (1997), ''Face/Off'' (1997), '' City of Angels'' (1998), '' Gone in 60 Seconds'' (2000), ''The Family Man'' (2000), ''Windtalkers'' (2002), the ''National Treasure'' film series (2004–2007) ...
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Alan Parker
Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English filmmaker. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After about ten years of filming adverts, many of which won awards for creativity, he began screenwriting and directing films. Parker was known for using a wide range of filmmaking styles and working in differing genres. He directed musicals, including ''Bugsy Malone'' (1976), '' Fame'' (1980), ''Pink Floyd – The Wall'' (1982), '' The Commitments'' (1991) and ''Evita'' (1996); true-story dramas, including '' Midnight Express'' (1978), '' Mississippi Burning'' (1988), '' Come See the Paradise'' (1990) and ''Angela's Ashes'' (1999); family dramas, including ''Shoot the Moon'' (1982), and horrors and thrillers including ''Angel Heart'' (1987) and ''The Life of David Gale'' (2003). His films won nineteen BAFTA awards, ten Golden Globes and six Academy Awards. His film '' Birdy'' ...
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