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The 2017 Tournament of Books was presented by Field Notes, and that year’s Rooster went to The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, who had this to say about the win:
This is very neat—thanks, judges, for being so kind. I will cherish this literal rooster-turned-metaphorical rooster for years to come. It was an honor to see my book in the company of such awesome work by these wonderful talents—and shout-out to Yaa Gyasi, who wrote an incredible novel and is a really cool person, to boot!
Relive the Action
Play-in Match
March 8 • Jason Diamond
The Throwback Special v. Sudden Death v. The Sport of Kings
Opening Round
March 9 • Kirstin Butler
The Underground Railroad v. Black Wave
March 10 • V.V. Ganeshananthan
The Vegetarian v. All the Birds in the Sky
March 13 • Steph Cha
My Name Is Lucy Barton v. Version Control
March 14 • Susannah Cahalan
The Mothers v. High Dive
March 15 • Will Chancellor
Moonglow v. Grief Is the Thing With Feathers
March 16 • Caille Millner
Homegoing v. Sweet Lamb of Heaven
March 17 • Lili Loofbourow
The Nix v. We Love You, Charlie Freeman
March 20 • Pamela Ribon
Sudden Death v. Mister Monkey
Quarterfinals
March 21 • Bim Adewunmi
The Underground Railroad v. All the Birds in the Sky
March 22 • Tim Rinehart
Version Control v. The Mothers
March 23 • Miranda Popkey
Grief Is the Thing With Feathers v. Homegoing
March 24 • Nicole Chung
The Nix v. Mister Monkey
Semifinals
March 27 • Rahawa Haile
The Underground Railroad v. Version Control
March 28 • Aaron Bady
Homegoing v. The Nix
Zombie Round
March 29 • Isaac Fitzgerald
The Nix v. The Underground Railroad
March 30 • Reyhan Harmanci
The Vegetarian v. Homegoing
Championship
March 31 • All Judges
The Underground Railroad v. Homegoing