Louise Erdrich, four other Minnesota writers finalists for prestigious national award

Minnesota writers Louise Erdrich and Kao Kalia Yang are among the finalists for this year's National Book Critics Circle Awards, as are Minnesota-reared writers Alice Kaplan, Michael Tisserand and Hope Jahren. "Blackacre," published by Minneapolis' Graywolf Press, is a finalist in poetry.

The finalists were selected on Saturday at a board meeting in New York City and the winners will be announced in mid-March. The board also named Yaa Gyasi's novel, "Homegoing," as winner of the John Leonard Prize, which goes to the best first book. Critic Michelle Dean, who writes for the Guardian, the New Republic and elsewhere, won the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, which carries a $1,000 cash award. And Margaret Atwood—novelist, poet, essayist, futurist, and environmental activist—will receive the board's Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.

Here is the full list of finalists, with links to Star Tribune reviews, when available:

Autobiography

Marion Coutts, "The Iceberg."

Jenny Diski, "In Gratitude."

Hope Jahren, "Lab Girl."

Kao Kalia Yang, "The Song Poet."

Biography

Nigel Cliff, "Moscow Nights: The Van Cliburn Story."

Ruth Franklin, "Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life."

Joe Jackson: "Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary."

Frances Wilson: "Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey."

Criticism

Carol Anderson, "White Rage."

Mark Greif, "Against Everything."

Alice Kaplan, "Looking for the Stranger."

Peter Orner, "Am I Alone Here?"

Fiction

Michael Chabon, "Moonglow."

Louise Erdrich, "LaRose."

Adam Haslett, "Imagine Me Gone."

Zadie Smith, "Swing Time."

General nonfiction

Matthew Desmond, "Evicted."

Ibram X. Kendi, "Stamped from the Beginning."

Jane Mayer, "Dark Money."

John Edgar Wideman, "Writing to Save a Life."

Poetry

Ishion Hutchinson, "House of Lords and Commons."

Tyehimba Jess, "Olio."

Bernadette Mayer, "Works and Days."

Monica Youn, "Blackacre," (published by Graywolf Press.)