More good news for UNC-Wilmington's Lookout Books

"It seems impossible," my latest message from UNC-Wilmington's Lookout Books begins, "but the fairy tale for Edith Pearlman and Lookout Books continues."

On Saturday, Pearlman's "Binocular Vision," a short story collection, was named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. That makes it the first book to be nominated for that award, the National Book Award and the Story Prize in the same year.

What makes that accomplishment even more amazing is that the book was the very first from Lookout Books, a small new publisher affiliated with UNC-Wilmington's Department of Creative Writing.

Here's more good news: In April, Charlotte-area residents will have the chance to hear Pearlman read from her work. She'll be at Davidson College on 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 17,in the Sloan Music Center's Tyler-Tallman Recital Hall. She'll also do a signing at Park Road Books. Details to come.

The winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award will be announced March 8. The other fiction finalists are Teju Cole's "Open City," Jeffrey Eugenides's "The Marriage Plot," Alan Hollinghurst's "The Stranger's Child" and Dana Spiotta's "Stone Arabia."