from a press release:
New York, NY (January 17, 2017)—Today the NBCC announced its 30 finalists in six categories––autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry––for the outstanding books of 2016. The winners of three additional prizes (The Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, The John Leonard Prize and Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing) were also announced. The National Book Critics Circle Awards, begun in 1975 and considered among the most prestigious in American letters, are the sole prizes bestowed by a jury of working critics and book-review editors.
The awards will be presented on March 16, 2017 at the New School in New York City. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
The recipient of the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award is Margaret Atwood. Born in 1939 in Ottawa, Ontario, Margaret Atwood is a poet, novelist, story writer, essayist, and environmental activist. She is the author of some 16 novels, eight collections of short stories, eight children’s books, 17 volumes of poetry, 10 collections of nonfiction, as well as small press editions, television and radio scripts, plays, recordings, and editions. Her lifetime contribution to letters and book culture includes groundbreaking fiction, environmental and feminist activism, and service to community as a cofounder of the Writers’ Trust of Canada. Her books have received critical acclaim in the United States, Europe, and her native Canada, and she has received numerous literary awards, including the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Governor General’s Award, twice.
Read the press release and list of finalists.
Among the finalists:
- for Autobiography: Minnesota author Kao Kalia Yang, The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father (Read Yang's first book The Latehomecomer in Ebooks Minnesota)
- for Fiction: Minnesota author Louise Erdrich, LaRose
- for Poetry: Monica Youn, BlaMonica Youn, Blackacre
