Uzodinma Iweala's 'Beasts of No Nation' and Nathaniel Fick's 'One Bullet Away' Win 2005 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards

-- Kitty Fitzgerald's 'Pigtopia' and Martin Moran's 'The Tricky Part' Awarded Second-Place Honors

-- Catherine Tudish's 'Tenney's Landing' and Louise Brown's 'The Dancing Girls of Lahore' Take Third-Place Honors

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the nation's largest bookseller,announced this afternoon that Uzodinma Iweala's verbally dexterous,utterly original first novel, Beasts of No Nation (HarperCollins), andNathaniel Fick's intelligent and thoughtful memoir of his Marine Corpsservice, One Bullet Away (Houghton Mifflin), have been named thewinners of the thirteenth annual "Discover Great New Writers Awards"for fiction and nonfiction, respectively. They were each awarded cashprizes of $10,000, and a full year of additional marketing andadvertising support.

Two panels of literary jurists also selected two additionalfiction and nonfiction writers for prizes. Irish writer KittyFitzgerald's first novel, Pigtopia (Miramax Books), and Martin Moran'smemoir, The Tricky Part (Beacon Press), took second place in fictionand nonfiction, respectively, and each received $5,000. CatherineTudish's short-story collection, Tenney's Landing (Scribner), andLouise Brown's groundbreaking foray into a world of dynasticprostitution, The Dancing Girls of Lahore (4th Estate), receivedthird-place honors with a $2,500 prize for each. All six finalistsreceived engraved crystal awards from Tiffany & Co. The awards werepresented this afternoon at a private ceremony, and the winners andfinalists will read from their work tonight, March 1, at 7:00 p.m. atthe Lincoln Triangle Barnes & Noble in New York City, located at 1972Broadway (at 66th Street).

Three distinguished fiction writers - Carrie Brown, Howard FrankMosher and Samrat Upadhyay - formed the jury panel for this year'sfiction awards. Carrie Brown won the Discover Award in 1998 for hernovel, Rose's Garden. Her most recent work, Confinement, is due out inpaper later this month. Samrat Upadhyay's short-story collection,Arresting God in Kathmandu, was tapped for the Discover program in2001. His most recent collection, The Royal Ghosts, was published lastmonth. Howard Frank Mosher was "discovered" in 1990 for his novel, AStranger in the Kingdom. The film production of his novel,Disappearances, is due for release in early April.

Beasts of No Nation, Uzodinma Iweala's debut novel, is thechilling tale of a young African boy forced to become a soldier longbefore his time. Fiction jurist Carrie Brown offered the followingcomment on the prizewinner: "For its breathtaking portrayal of thesurvival of the human spirit in the face of suffering and cruelty,Beasts of No Nation would be a remarkable accomplishment for a writerpracticing at the height of maturity and skill. Uzodinma Iweala wasonly 23 years old when he published this novel, but it is unmistakablyan imaginative tour de force. (He) has found a voice for young Agu, anAfrican child soldier conscripted into a brutal guerilla army, whichis both harrowing and heartbreaking. The novel is testament to theprofound ability of literature to show us horror, dismantle it andidentify its parts, and arrive in the silent ether of the aftermathwith something utterly unforgettable and, most importantly, worthcherishing."

The judges for the nonfiction award included writer DebraDickerson, whose memoir, An American Story, was chosen for theDiscover program in 2000; memoirist James Frey; and Tom Groneberg,whose memoir, The Secret Life of Cowboys was selected for the Discoverprogram in 2003. His new book, One Good Horse, was published lastmonth.

One Bullet Away is Nathaniel Fick's gripping tale of his militaryservice. Mr. Groneberg said of the winning book, "One Bullet Away isabout two wars in different places. It's about...(a) fight to become aMarine officer...and...the fights on the streets of Iraq and in thecountryside of Afghanistan, the battle within a young soldier to dothe right thing despite what the textbooks or his superiors mightcommand.... While the book's subtitle might be: 'The Making of AMarine Officer,' ultimately, (Fick's book) heralds the making of atruly powerful new writer."

The 2005 Discover Awards honor the works of exceptionally talentedwriters featured in the Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers"program during the 2005 calendar year. Last year, the Discover GreatNew Writers program featured the work of 70 previously unheraldedfiction and non-fiction writers. The 2005 prize-winning authors jointhe ranks of an extraordinary group of writers, including last year'sDiscover Award winners, John Dalton for his first novel, Heaven Lake;and Alison Smith, for her emotionally evocative memoir, Name All theAnimals. Other Discover Award winners include Monica Ali, HamptonSides, Tracy Chevalier, David Guterson, and Chang-rae Lee.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest booksellerand a Fortune 500 company, operates 824 bookstores in 50 states. Forthe fourth year in a row, the company is the nation's top retail brandfor quality, according to the EquiTrend(R) Brand Study by HarrisInteractive(R). Barnes & Noble conducts its online business throughBarnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commercesites and the number one online bookseller for quality amonge-commerce companies, according to the latest EquiTrend survey.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained viathe Internet by visiting the company's corporate Web site:http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com.