Untitled

The Morning News Tournament of Books, a March Madness-style competition that brackets books instead of basketball teams, is an event John Warner in the Department of English is involved in. The Morning News hosts the event where 16 of the previous year’s best works of fiction enter the Tournament. This year (2013 marks its ninth year), the book tournament has Warner providing commentary.

Want to know how it works?

“Each weekday in March, two works of fiction from 2012 go head to head, with one of our 16 judges choosing which will move ahead in the brackets. Along the way, each judge reveals his or her biases and interests, any connections they have to the participating authors, and, most importantly, an elaborate explanation of how they decided between the two books.

Following each day’s decision, our ToB Chairmen, authors Kevin Guilfoile and John Warner, weigh in with color commentary. Think of it as a bigger-picture view of the proceedings from two experts who have read almost every book in the Tournament. Then we leave it up to you, the reader, to add your own passionate thoughts and rebukes to the mix in the comments section—and it gets pretty hot in there.

From the eight opening round matches to the four quarterfinal matches through the two semifinal matches, the original field of 16 competitors is whittled down to two books. However, before those books can enter the final, championship match, they must compete in the Zombie Round, which brings back two books that were eliminated during gameplay.

How the Zombies are chosen: Before the Tournament begins each year, we ask The Morning News readers to vote for their favorite novel of the 16 that will enter the competition. When we reach the Zombie Round during gameplay, the two books that received the most popular votes from among the eliminated rise from the dead with another shot at reaching the championship.

The two books that emerge victorious from the Zombie Round enter the championship match, which is decided by all 16 judges plus an additional tiebreaker judge. Each judge picks their favorite of the two final books, and whichever book receives the most votes takes home that year’s Rooster.”

Additionally, one of this year’s competitors, Adam Johnson, is going to be part of this week’s Crazyhorse Writers Conference. Adam, author of The Orphan Master’s Son, won his first round match-up!

View today’s round and commentary here. Stay tuned for the winner of this year’s event and additional commentary from John Warner!