NEW YORK ā Fiction by Percival Everett and Ling Ma, nonfiction by Annie Proulx and biographies of George Balanchine and J. Edgar Hoover are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle awards. Former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo has won an honorary award for lifetime achievement.
Last fall's National Book Award winner for fiction, Tess Gunty's āThe Rabbit Hutch,ā is a nominee for best first book. Other finalists announced Tuesday night include Ed Yong's āAn Immense World,ā recently awarded a Carnegie Medal from the American Library Association, and the poetry collection āMilkweed Smithereens,ā by Bernadette Mayer, who died in November at age 77.
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Winners will be announced March 23 during a ceremony in Manhattan. Besides Harjo's award, the NBCC also will present honorary prizes to former critics circle president Barbara Hoffert, San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore and the critic Jennifer Wilson, who writes for The Nation and The New York Times.
In fiction, nominees include Everett's novel āDr. No,ā Ma's story collection āBliss Montage,ā Namwali Serpell's āThe Furrows,ā and two works in translation: Jon Fosse's āA New Name: Septology VI-VII" and Mieko Kawakami's āAll the Lovers in the Night.ā
Finalists in autobiography are Jazmina Barrera's āLinea Nigra: An Essay on Pregnancy and Earthquakes,ā Hua Hsu's āStay True: A Memoir,ā Dorthe Nors' āA Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast,ā Darryl Pinckney's āCome Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattanā and Ingrid Rojas Contreras' āThe Man Who Could Move Clouds.ā
In biography, the nominees are Beverly Gage's Hoover biography āG-Man,ā Jennifer Homans' āMr. B: George Balanchineās 20th Century,ā Kerri K. Greenidge's āThe Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family,ā Clare Mac Cumhaill's and Rachael Wiseman's āMetaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Lifeā and Aaron Sachs' āUp from the Depths: Herman Melville, Louis Mumford, and Rediscovery in Dark Times.ā
Pulitzer Prize winner Margo Jefferson's āConstructing a Nervous Systemā is a finalist for criticism, along with Rachel Aviv's āStrangers to Ourselves,ā Timothy Bewes' āFree Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional Age,ā Peter Brooks' āSeduced by Storyā and Alia Trabucco ZerĆ”n's āWhen Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold.ā
In nonfiction, nominees besides Yong include Proulx's environmental study āFen, Bog, & Swamp,ā Isaac Butler's āThe Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act,ā Kelly Lytle Hernandez's āBad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlandsā and Joseph Osmundson's essay collection āVirology.ā
Meyer was a finalist in the poetry category, along with Mosab Abu Toha's āThings You May Find Hidden in My Ear,ā Cynthia Cruz's āHotel Oblivion,ā David Hernandez's āHello I Must Be Goingā and Paul Hlava Ceballos' ābanana.ā
For the first time, the NBCC will award a prize for translation. The nominees are Boris Dralyukās translation from the Russian of Andrey Kurkov's āGrey Bees,ā Jennifer Croftās translation from the Polish of Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's āThe Books of Jacob,ā Fady Joudahās translation from the Arabic of Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's āYou Can Be the Last Leaf,ā Mara Faye Lethemās translation from the Catalan of Irene SolĆ 's āWhen I Sing, Mountains Dance,ā Christina MacSweeneyās translation from the Spanish of Barrera's āLinea Nigraā and Mark Polizzottiās translation from the French of Scholastique Mukasonga's āKibogo.ā
Gunty is a finalist for best debut work, along with Jessamine Chan's āThe School for Good Mothers,ā Jonathan Escoffery's āIf I Survive You,ā Zain Khalid's āBrother Alive,ā Maud Newton's āAncestor Trouble,ā Morgan Talty's āNight of the Living Rezā and Vauhini Vara's āThe Immortal King Rao.ā
The NBCC was founded in 1974, and includes more than 600 members from around the country.