This year's National Book Award nominees have been announced -- and an astounding three out of five in the fiction category are panelists who will be appearing at the Key West Literary Seminar in January. Wow. Peter Mathiessen, Marilynne Robinson and relative newcomer Rachel Kushner all made the short list. That's impressive. And there are still spots open in the second all-star weekend, so check it out. In other KWLS-related news, check out Littoral, the seminar's blog, if you don't already do so. Arlo Haskell has managed to do what many have tried and none fully pulled off before: he's publishing a high-quality Key West-centered literary journal. Single-handed. The web is a good thing, at least when it's being used for good and not to propagate thinly veiled racist political slander.

Update: Even as I was writing the above post, the New York Times' excellent book blog, Paper Cuts, was linking to Littoral. Yea Arlo! Yea Key West! We're in the big time now.