<p>A depiction of Mumbai's slumdwellers and growing corruption in India has won American author and Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Katherine Boo a prestigious award in American literature.<br /><br />Boo, the wife of New Delhi-born Sunil Khilnani, who authored the critically acclaimed book <br />'The Idea of India', was among the winners of this year's National Book Award.<br />She was honoured for her debut work 'Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity', a tale of despair and hope in India.</p>.<p>Her very first work on India is a non-fiction account that gives a detailed picture of Annawadi slum near Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and follows the interconnected lives of several residents, including a young trash picker, a female "slumlord," and a college student.<br /><br />In 2000, her series for the Washington Post about homes for mentally retarded people won her the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.<br /><br />48-year-old Boo is currently on staff with The New Yorker.<br /><br />The National Book Awards also honoured longtime author Louise Erdrich (58) for her book The Round House, the second of a planned trilogy, about an Ojibwe boy and his quest to avenge his mother's rape.<br /><br />Among others who were awarded for their work are William Alexander, Goblin Secrets Young Peoples Literature and for David Ferry, Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations.</p>
<p>A depiction of Mumbai's slumdwellers and growing corruption in India has won American author and Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Katherine Boo a prestigious award in American literature.<br /><br />Boo, the wife of New Delhi-born Sunil Khilnani, who authored the critically acclaimed book <br />'The Idea of India', was among the winners of this year's National Book Award.<br />She was honoured for her debut work 'Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity', a tale of despair and hope in India.</p>.<p>Her very first work on India is a non-fiction account that gives a detailed picture of Annawadi slum near Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and follows the interconnected lives of several residents, including a young trash picker, a female "slumlord," and a college student.<br /><br />In 2000, her series for the Washington Post about homes for mentally retarded people won her the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.<br /><br />48-year-old Boo is currently on staff with The New Yorker.<br /><br />The National Book Awards also honoured longtime author Louise Erdrich (58) for her book The Round House, the second of a planned trilogy, about an Ojibwe boy and his quest to avenge his mother's rape.<br /><br />Among others who were awarded for their work are William Alexander, Goblin Secrets Young Peoples Literature and for David Ferry, Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations.</p>