Minneapolis's Graywolf Press has four books on the finalist lists for the National Book Critics Circle awards--more than any other publisher--and Coffee House Press has one. A Graywolf book, "Her Body and Other Parties" by Carmen Maria Machado, was chosen to win the John Leonard Prize for best first book.
The finalists were chosen by the 24 board members of the National Book Critics Circle on Saturday in New York.
For only the third time in the organization's history, one of the finalists was selected not by the board but by the voting membership; a book must receive a certain percentage of votes in order to make the list. This year it was Roxane Gay's memoir, "Hunger." Also in the running are Thi Bui's graphic novel memoir about her family's emigration from Vietnam; a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder; and several books shortlisted for the National Book Award. The winner of the Ivan Sandrof Award for lifetime achievement will go to writer and teacher John McPhee. Previous winners have included Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison and Wendell Barry. And writer and critic Charles Finch received the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. The rest of the winners will be announced at 6:30 p.m. March 15 at the New School in New York City. A reception and party will follow; tickets are available here. NONFICTION:
Jack Davis, Gulf: The Making of An American Sea (Liveright)
Frances FitzGerald, The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America (Scribner)
Masha Gessen, The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia (Riverhead)
Kapka Kassabova, Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe (Graywolf)
Adam Rutherford, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes (The Experiment)
