NBCC President John Freeman moderates a panel of writers who also edit, teach, and travel across cultures, discussing how the cultural convergences of the Bay Area help shape today’s literary culture.

PANELISTS
Daniel Alarcon, fiction writer (LOST CITY RADIO, WAR BY CANDLELIGHT),associate editor of the Lima-based magazine Etiqueta Negra, co-editor of Virginia Quarterly Review’s Latin American issue.

Sylvia Brownrigg, critic (The Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, The New Statesman, Salon), fiction writer (TEN WOMEN WHO SHOOK THE WORLD, THE DELIVERY ROOM, forthcoming MORALITY TALE).

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, co author, FAREWELL TO MANZANAR, novelist (THE LEGEND OF FIRE HORSE WOMAN).

James D. Houston, co-author, FAREWELL TO MANZANAR, novelist (CONTINENTAL DRIFT, SNOW MOUNTAIN PASSAGE, BIRD OF ANOTHER HEAVEN, THE LAST PARADISE), professor, essayist , co-editor, THE LITERATURE OF CALIFORNIA (Volumes 1 and 2).

Micheline Aharonian Marcom, novelist (THE DAYDREAMING BOY, THREE APPLES FELL FROM HEAVEN), creative writing professor (Mills College).

Al Young, California poet laureate, essayist, novelist, memoirist, (author COASTAL NIGHTS AND INLAND AFTERNOONS, THE SOUND OF DREAMS REMEMBERED, SEDUCTION BY LIGHT, MINGUS, MINGUS: TWO MEMOIRS), professor, co-editor, THE LITERATURE OF CALIFORNIA (Volumes 1 and 2).

NBCC board member Jane Ciabattari moderates a panel discussing who to watch for, what they are working on, and new forms that might appear (including new technology).

PANELISTS
Sandy Dijkstra, literary agent
Eli Horowitz, Publisher, McSweeney’s Books
Suzanne Kleid, City Lights Books and KQED blogger
David Kipen, NEA Director of Literature/BIG READ, former NBCC board member.
Michael Ray, editor ZOETROPE:ALL STORY
Michelle Richmond, author (THE GIRL IN THE FALL-AWAY DRESS, THE YEAR OF FOG), blogger (Sans Serif), editor (Fiction Attic)
Greg Sarris, fiction writer (GRAND AVENUE, WATERMELON NIGHTS), screenwriter, college professor, Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.

Check back for a list of finalists who will read at the event, which is free and open to the public

Open to all NBCC members

$25, payable via paypal (bring receipt for entrance) or by check at the door. Reservations required. Open to current members only. Contact Jennifer Reese (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) to RSVP.

Announcement of the 2007 NBCC Award winners. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the awards ceremony. Tickets are $45 and available via cash or check at the door, or via online payment here.

Panelists Esther Allen, translator, former co-director of PEN World Voices, author of International PEN report on Translation and Globalization;Yvette Chrisianse, South African poet, novelist, professor; Elizabeth Macklin, poet, translator from Basque of Uribe; Jill Schoolman,Director of Archipelago Books; Karen Emmerich, translator of NBCC award finalist Miltos Sachtouris, among other Greek writers. Moderator: NBCC board member and poet Kevin Prufer (National Anthem), editor of Pleiades and coeditor of New European Poets (Graywolf).

Live announcement of NBCC Awards finalists, with announcers Bill Henderson of Pushcart Press, winner of the Sandrof lifetime achievement award; Sam Anderson, winner of 2007 Balakian award; former NBCC fiction finalist Jayne Anne Phillips; Mary Jo Bang, winner of the 2007 poetry award; Harriet Washington, winner of the 2007 nonfiction award; Blake Bailey, NBCC biography finalist; Alex Ross, winner of the 2007 criticism award; Joshua Clark, finalist for the 2007 autobiography award. Hosted by NBCC President Jane Ciabattari.

National Book Critics Circle’s Fiction Winners/Finalists reading at the Chicago AWP conference, with 2004 NBCC Awards Fiction Winner Marilynne Robinson (Gilead), author of Home; 2002 NBCC Awards Fiction Finalist Aleksandar Hemon (Nowhere Man), author of The Lazarus Project, and 1988 NBCC Awards Fiction Winner Bharati Mukherjee (The Middleman and Other Stories), author of The Tree Bride. Welcome by Elizabeth Taylor, literary editor, the Chicago Tribune; Moderator:Jane Ciabattari, NBCC president.

Marilynne Robinson’s Home and Aleksandar Hemon’s The Lazarus Project are finalists for the 2008 NBCC fiction award.

Reading by finalists for the NBCC awards in autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The event is free and open to the public.

NBCC Awards Ceremony: Announcement of the 2009 NBCC Award winners will take place at 6:00 p.m. in The New School University’s Tishman Auditorium, 66 W. 12th St., New York City. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the awards ceremony. Tickets for the reception are $40 if purchased by February 28, $45 thereafter by cash or check at the door, or online.

To celebrate the National Book Critics Circle’s 35th birthday, a panel of critics—board members of the NBCC and a finalist for this year’s NBCC Balakian award for criticism—provide context and commentary on this year’s World Voices authors, including Bernardo Atxaga, Álvaro Enrique, Nawal El Saadawi, Peter Weber, and Uljana Wolf.
With Eric Banks, Rigoberto González, Laila Lalami, and Kevin Prufer; moderated by Jane Ciabattari.

Celebrate the publication of the landmark new Graywolf anthology New European Poets with a panel discussion about and readings from the work of some of the most exciting and important new poetic voices from Europe.

With Christopher Bakken, Peter Covino, Marilyn Hacker, Wendy Lesser, Murat Nemet-Nejat, Adam Sorkin, and Alissa Valles; hosted by Wayne Miller and Kevin Prufer.  Part of PEN World Voices Festival.

Free and open to the public.
Cosponsored by Graywolf Press and NYU Creative Writing Program.

The world is more connected than ever, and hybrid culture has replaced the neverexistent mainstream. What do these revolutions hold for the short story? Who is its audience? And how do elements travel across cultures in the story differently than in the novel? Granta’s American editor John Freeman will lead the discussion.  Part of PEN World Voices Festival.

With Nadeem Aslam, Nam Le, Fuad Rifka, and Antje Rávic Strubel; moderated by John Freeman.

Free and open to the public.
Cosponsored by Granta and the Martin E. Segal Theatre, The Graduate Center, CUNY.

As one newspaper towns go to no newspaper towns, as bloggers get sponsors, as networking sites burgeon in content, what is the future of the book review?  We are poised now at the juncture—the transition is underway.  But a transition to what?  For some, the readership created by the internet is something to applaud.  We bring together a panel of writers, editors, and professionals, established on the vanguard, to discuss prospects for the review and how it may change, in the near future.

A National Book Critics Circle panel for the 2009 BEA
 
Ben Greenman (New Yorker, writer/reviewer)
Bethanne Patrick (PW blogger, Twitter and more)
David Nudo (Formerly New York Times, PW and Shelfari)
Otis Chandler (Goodreads CEO and founder)
Peter Krause (seems like a brand new thought, syndicates reviews to internet sites through his company, TacticCompany, formerly of Muze)

Moderated by John Reed, Books Editor, the Brooklyn Rail, NBCC board member

Join the NBCC and PEN American Center in honoring the 2009 PEN/Beyond Margins Awards. This year’s winners are Uwem Akpan for Say You’re One of Them, a new Oprah pick; NBCC poetry award winner Juan Felipe Herrera for Half the World in Light,; and Lily Hoang for her poetry collection Changing. They will be reading from their work, and joining W.W. Norton editor Brendan Curry in a conversation about “Crossing Over,” moderated by NBCC President Jane Ciabattari.

Literati-a-Go-Go
hosts the National Book Critics Circle
Pointless Holiday Mingle

Whiskeytown Bar
Starts at 6:30 pm, December 9
2-for-1 drinks

29 East 3 Street (between 2nd Ave and Bowery)
212 505 7344

Announcing the finalists for the NBCC awards in autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and the winners of the Sandrof award for lifetime achievement and the Balakian award for criticism.

Special guest announcers: Anthony Appiah, President, PEN American Center, 2008 Sandrof award winner, to announce the Sandrof award; Balakian winner Albert Mobilio to announce the Balakian award; 2008 finalist Elizabeth Strout, fiction; 2008 winner Ariel Sabar, autobiography; 1999 finalist Jean Strouse, biography, 1997 and 2008 finalist Vivian Gornick, criticism; 2008 finalist Brenda Shaughnessy, poetry, and 2000 nonfiction winner Ted Conover.

Reading by finalists for the NBCC awards in autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The event is free and open to the public.

Annual NBCC Membership Meeting, March 11, 2010, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm, with a presentation on Advanced Social Media for Book Critics and Others in the Book Biz by Prof. Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Student Affairs, Columbia Journalism School & contributing editor, DNAinfo.com and a panel on The Next Decade in Book Culture featuring current and incoming board members with perspectives from around the US: Mark Athitakis (Washington, D.C.), Colette Bancroft (St. Petersburg), Karen Long (Cleveland) Scott McLemee (Washington D.C.) and Elizabeth Taylor (Chicago).

$25, payable via paypal (bring receipt for entrance) or by check at the door. Reservations required. Open to current members only.

NBCC Awards Ceremony: Announcement of the 2009 NBCC Award winners will take place at 6:00 p.m. in The New School University’s Tishman Auditorium, 66 W. 12th St., New York City. The event is free and open to the public.

Tickets for this event are $40 until March 1 and $45 thereafter (bring Paypal receipt for entrance) and at the door.

NBCC AT AWP IN DENVER:

Friday, April 9 at 10:30 am

Rooms 401, 402
Colorado Convention Center, Street Level
F140.

National Book Critics Circle: The Practice and Purpose of Poetry
Reviewing. (Kevin Prufer, Matthew Zapruder, Craig Morgan Teicher, Nickole
Brown, Timothy Donnelly.)

Poetry books sell in small numbers, yet the poetry publishing scene is
booming with new books. Readers’ enthusiasm often takes the form of book
reviewing—in literary journals, on blogs, and in the pages of newspapers
and magazines. There’s some debate about what the point of poetry
reviewing really is: to explain esoteric writing? To keep the art form
from getting sloppy? To please the poet under consideration? In this
panel, poetry reviewers, publishers, and poets will debate these
questions.

The Roger Shattuck Conference on the Future of Criticism at the Center for
Fiction, 17 East 47th Street, April 17, 1 pm. 

NBCC members please note: This conference is free, but because of limited
space, RSVP required to events@centerforfiction.org The Center won’t let
anyone in who is not registered. 

The Future of Criticism
                  April 17, 2010

    1:00-1:10pm Film on Roger Shattuck
    1:10 -1:30pm     Robert Weil remembers Roger Shattuck

    1;30-1:45pm     Presentation of Shattuck Awards for Criticism

    1:45–2:45pm Provocation:  Literary Criticism Today

            Conversation between Daniel Mendelsohn & Thomas Mallon

            Introduced by:  Noreen Tomassi
    2:45-3:00pm Break

    3:00-4:15pm Panel— Criteria & Approaches

            Christopher Ricks, Denis Donoghue, Liesl Schillinger

                    Moderator:  Morris Dickstein

    4:15-4:30pm Break

    4:30-5:45pm Panel—The Future of Criticism

                Jed Perl, Maud Newton, John Freeman

                Moderator:  Jane Ciabattari

    5:45-6:30pm Closing Comments:  Shattuck, Proust, and The Future

                Conversation between Michel Braudeau, Editor,
Nouvelle Revue

                Française &  Lorin Stein, The Paris Review

Wine and Cheese Reception Following

Provocation: Literary Criticism Today
Thomas Mallon’s, Auhor of seven novels, including Henry and Clara, Bandbox
and Fellow Travelers and non-fiction books on plagiarism, diaries, letters
and the Kennedy assassination, as well as two volumes of essays (Rockets
and Rodeos and In Fact). His work appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic
Monthly, The New York Times Book Review and other publications; has taught
at Vassar College, the George Washington University and the Bread Loaf
Writers’ Conference. The recipient of Guggenheim and Rockefeller
fellowships, as well as the National Book Critics Circle award for
reviewing, he has been literary editor of Gentlemen’s Quarterly and deputy
chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Daniel Mendelsohn. Award-winning author of six books, critic, and
contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times, New York, The New York
Review of Books, The Paris Review among others. He is the recipient of the
National Book Critics Circle Award for Excellence in Review, and the George
Jean Nathan Prize for Drama Criticism, and the Guggenheim Foundation
Fellowship.

Panel – Criteria & Approaches
Dr. Morris Dickstein. Literary and cultural critic and author, currently
the Distinguished Professor of English and Theater at the Graduate Center
of City University of New York.

Dr. Denis Donoghue. The Henry James Professor in English and American
Letters at New York Univeristy, Chair of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences’ Nominating Committee, and a Fellow with the British Academy, the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Council of Learned
Societies, his most recent books is On Eloquence.

Dr. Christopher Ricks. William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the
Humanities at Boston University, co-director of the Editorial Institute
and a Professor of Poetry at Oxford; editor, critical writer and former
president of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics.

Liesl Schillinger. Literary critic and regular contributor for the New
York Times Book Review.

Panel – The Future Of Criticism
Jane Ciabattari. President of the National Book Critics Circle, a blogger
on Critical Mass and the author of the short-story collection Stealing The
Fire.

John Freeman. Former president of the National Book Critics Circle and a
prolific book reviewer, currently the American editor of Granta.

Maud Newton. Writer, critic and blogger, whose blog and work has been
sited in The New York Times Book Review, New York Magazine, The New Yorker
and Bookforum, among many others.

Jed Perl. Writer and art critic for The New Republic and author of many
books including Paris Without End: On French Art Since World War I, and
most recently Antoine’s Alphabet: Watteau and His World and New Art City:
Manhattan at Mid-Century.

Closing Comments: Shattuck, Proust and the Future
Michel Braudeau. Novelist, former book critic at L’Express, editor at Le
Monde. Currently, Editor-in-Chief of La Nouvelle Revue française; author
of Flight of the Monarch (and Other Reflections) a book of essays.

Lorin Stein. Senior editor at Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, whose authors
include Richard Price, Denis Johnson, recent translations of Roberto
Bolano, Jonathan Franzen, Jefferey Eugenides, among many other prominent
writers; recently named editor of the Paris Review.

Have a conversation with leading literary critics about the work of some of the writers at this year’s Festival—including Sherman Alexie, Quim Monzó, Peter Schneider, Martin Solares, and Peter Stamm. Who are their influences? How has their work been received, both here and abroad? Members of the National Book Critics Circle trace the journey these writers have traveled from publication to translation to critical attention.

This Critical Moment: The Journey—A National Book Critics Circle Conversation
When: Friday, April 30
Where: Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 East 52nd Street, New York City
What time: 1–2:30 p.m.

With NBCC board members Eric Banks, Jane Ciabattari, Rigoberto González,
and Mary Ann Newman , Director of the Catalan Center at New York
University’s Center for European and Mediterranean Studies.

Free but reservations are required. Please call ACF’s reservation line at
(212) 319-5300 ext. 222 or e-mail reservations@acfny.org.

Co-sponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum and the National Book Critics
Circle

The Next Decade in Book Culture

A conversation sponsored by the National Book Critics Circle

Moderated by National Book Critics Circle board member John Reed

With these little handy things called books on slated for extinction, what
is a reviewer to do?  IPads, Nooks, Kindles?  What are these little plastic
things with buttons?  And what are they doing to our beloved reflections?
We are set on the launch pad—the engines are heavy with fuel, and are
rumbling.  But where are we going?  We bring together a panel of writers,
editors, and professionals, established on the vanguard, to discuss
prospects for the review and how it may change, in the near future.

Carolyn Kellogg writes about books for the Los Angeles Times. She started
her first litblog in 2004, was the web editor for the radio show
Marketplace and is a blogging consultant for the Getty Museum.

Will Murphy is Executive Editor at Random House.  Previously he was
Humanities Editor at the University of Minnesota Press, and Literary
Editor at the University of California Press.  His authors include Salman
Rushdie, Bernard-Henri Levy, Nassim Taleb, Jeff Shaara, Jon Clinch, Bing
West, and David Brooks.

Ed Nawotka is the founder and editor-in-chief of
PublishingPerspectives.com, a daily online trade magazine for the
international publishing community. He is also a contributing editor at
Publishers Weekly and a widely published freelancer. Prior to starting
Publishing Perspectives, he was book columnist at Bloomberg News and daily
news editor of Publishers Weekly.

Denise Oswald is Editorial Director of Soft Skull Press. Prior to that she
was Senior Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where she oversaw the Faber
and Faber list for nearly a decade. While there her authors included
Pulitzer, PEN, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences award winners; as
well as national and regional bestsellers. Among the wide variety of
artists she’s worked with are Colin Beavan, Anne Carson, Courtney Love,
and Neil LaBute. She currently sits on the advisory board of The Feminist
Press. 

John Reed is a National Book Critics Circle board member and Books Editor
of The Brooklyn Rail. His work has been published in Open City, Artnet,
Artforum, Paper Magazine, New York Press, Brooklyn Rail, Timeout New York,
Bomb Magazine, Playboy, Art in America, Los Angeles Times, and many other
venues.  He is author of the novels, A STILL SMALL VOICE (Delacorte
Press), THE WHOLE (MTV / Simon & Schuster), the bestseller, SNOWBALL’S
CHANCE (Roof), the recently released ALL THE WORLD’S A GRAVE: A NEW PLAY
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (Penguin/Plume), and the forthcoming TALES OF WOE
(MTV Press).

Craig Morgan Teicher is a poet, critic and blogger.  He is the editor of
MediaBistro’s eBookNewser blog, the poetry editor of Publishers Weekly,
and a prolific freelance reviewer.  His new book of stories and fables,
Cradle Book, is due out in June from BOA Editions. He is a National Book
Critics Circle board member.

Kate Travers is a marketing, media, and branding strategist to publishers,
authors and literary organizations. Most recently, Kate was the Strategic
Marketing and Special Events Director at powerHouse Books and the
powerHouse Arena. Kate began her career in publishing nearly ten years ago
at HarperCollins Publishers. She moved on to become the Director of Mariner
Books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Strategic Marketing Director at the
Literary Ventures Fund. Kate serves on the Literary Council of The
Brooklyn Book Festival and is a member of the Women’s Media Group.

Introduction by Jane Ciabattari, NBCC president.

Jakob K. Javits Center, Room 1E14
665 West 34th Street
New York, NY

NBCC Reads Conversation on Books about Conjugal Love at Book Passage in Corte Madera, August 4, 7 pm, with NBCC President, Jane Ciabattari, Balakian winner Molly Giles, NBCC members Meredith Maran and Greg Sarris. Including Annie Dillard THE MAYTREEs, Jane Smiley’s A PRIVATE LIFE, Evan Connell’s MR. BRIDGE and MRS. BRIDGE.

Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Boulevard
Corte Madera, CA 94925-1145
(415) 927-0960

Goofs, gaffes, guilt.  As part of the tumultuous (and free)Litquake NYC Lit Crawl on September 11, the National Book Critics Circle and other critics make public apologies for their crimes. Critic Dale Peck and current and former NBCC board members including Lev Grossman, Lizzie Skurnick, John Reed, Mark Rotella and Jane Ciabattari, will plead for forgiveness for villainy and negligence in their reviews.  Heartfelt entreaties from the crowd will make this a thoroughly punishing and satisfying tribunal.

This is the third annual Lit Crawl New York, which originators describe as a madcap concept created by San Francisco’s brilliant literary festival, Litquake, back in 2004. It’s a bar crawl… with literature!

NBCC “Name that Author” returns to the book festival with 2008 champ Brigid Hughes (A Public Space), 2009 champ Martha Southgate (Third Girl from the Left), critics Eric Banks, Steve Kellman, and David Haglund. John Reed (Tales of Woe), emcee. NBCC president Jane Ciabattari, referee/quizmaster.

180 Remsen Street, half a block from Borough Hall main stage, 5:00 PM

Moderator Bethanne Patrick with NBCC members Britt Peterson (Foreign Policy) and Sarah Courteau (Wilson Quarterly), Allan Fallow (features editor at AARP The Magazine), and novelist Rick Moody in conversation about The Next Decade in Book Culture.

NBCC Reads: Gary Giddins, Lore Segal and Brenda Wineapple in conversation with James Marcus, Favorite Books about Conjugal Love.

The Future of Reading panel at Wordstock Festival, Portland, Oregon. October 10, 2010 11:00AM - 12:00PM@ Powell’s Books Stage (Oregon Convention Center)  Is reading on the decline? Many think so. Writers, booksellers, librarians and reviewers all have a stake in the evolving culture of reading, however no one has more to gain or lose than readers. A National Book Critics Circle panel. With Mona Simpson, Matthew Stadler, Michael Schaub, and David Biespiel.

With NBCC finalists Marlon James, Jayne Anne Phillips and Brenda Shaughnessy

National Book Critics Circle Conversation, The Next Decade in Book Culture, at Book Passage, San Francisco

With moderator Oscar Villalon, NBCC biography finalist Jason Roberts, Meg Pokrass and Michael Lukas

National Book Critics Circle and Graywolf Press at the Minneapolis Public LIbrary: A Reading by NBCC Award Winners and Finalists, including Eula Biss, Marlon James, and Stephen Burt. A conversation about criticism in 2010 after the reading will be moderated by Graywolf editor Jeff Shotts.

Jane Ciabattari, Lev Grossman, Roxana Robinson, in conversation with Noreen Tomassi.

Join Literati-A-Go-Go hosts David Nudo, John Reed, Jane Ciabattari, Libby Jordan and Donna Bagdasarian

$4 - $7 Drink Specials

Fabulous Door Prizes

RSVP: janeciab@gmail.com

Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, all have reinvented their book review sections. Come hear the editors tell how and what’s coming next.

Barbara Hoffert, Book Review Editor, Library Journal, NBCC Awards VP
Robert Messenger, Books Editor, The Wall Street Journal
Craig Morgan Teicher, Senior Editor,  Publishers Weekly, NBCC Tech VP
Jennifer B. McDonald, Staff Editor, The New York Times Book Review
Moderated by NBCC President Jane Ciabattari

The National Book Critics Circle and Johnson County Library present “The Next Decade in Book Culture,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan.18, Johnson County Central Resource Library, 9875 W. 87th St. in Overland Park, Ks. John Mark Eberhart moderates, with Denise Low, Mark Luce, Steve Weinberg, and John Mark Eberhart.

POSTPONED TO LATER DATE, DUE TO SNOW.

Akashic presents Philadelphia Noir with special guests

Cosponsored by the National Book Critics Circle

Featuring Carlin Romano, editor of Philadelphia Noir

Philadelphia Noir contributors Halimah Marcus and Laura Spagnoli

Bronx Noir editor/Manhattan Noir contributor S.J. Rozan

Tim Mcloughlin, editor of Brooklyn Noir 1, 2, and 3

National Book Critics Circle awards finalists’ announcement and celebration
January 22, 2011, 6-8 pm
WNYCs’ Greene Performance Space, 44 Charlton Street, New York, NY
RSVP janeciab@gmail.com

Guest announcers:

Joan Acocella, 2010 Balakian winner, to announce the winner of this year’s Nona Balakian award for excellence in reviewing.

Jason Epstein, former Sandrof winner, to announce the winner of this year’s Ivan Sandrof award for lifetime achievement.

Zadie Smith, NBCC fiction finalist, to announce the five finalists in fiction.

Annette Gordon Reed, NBCC nonfiction finalist, to announce the five finalists in nonfiction.

Carolyn Forche, NBCC poetry finalist, to announce the 5 finalists in poetry.

Honor Moore, NBCC autobiography finalist, to announce the 5 finalists in autobiography.

Blake Bailey, NBCC biography winner, to announce the 5 finalists in biography.

Stephen Burt, NBCC criticism finalist, to announce the 5 finalists in criticism.

This announcement will come shortly after 6 pm, after a day-long board meeting at which the 24 NBCC board members vote for the finalists.

Complete list of National Book Critics Circle award winners and finalists, 1975-2010 at
www.bookcritics.org/awards

Friday, January 28. Free
6:30 p.m., Theresa Lang Center, 55 W. 13th Street, 2nd floor

A National Book Critics Circle conversation with book or feature editors from the Brooklyn Rail, The Daily Beast, Publishers Weekly, Frisky,  The Millions, Tin House & more.

With Lucas Wittman, The Daily Beast;  Monica de la Torre, BOMB magazine; John Reed, The Brooklyn Rail; Max McGee, The Millions; Mark Rotella, Senior Editor, Publishers Weekly; Frisky editor Kate Torgovnick, Rob Spillman, editor, Tin House magazine. Moderated by NBCC member Susan Shapiro.

National Book Critics Circle Reading at the AWP. NBCC President Jane Ciabattari hosts a reading by NBCC award winners and finalists Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Edward P. Jones, Jayne Anne Phillips, Elizabeth Strout, and Colson Whitehead.

NBCC nonfiction and criticism finalists in conversation with nonfiction committee chair Art Winslow and criticism committee chair John Reed: With nonfiction finalists Siddhartha Mukherjee and Isabel Wilkerson, criticism finalists Clare Cavanagh, Susie Linfield, and Ander Monson. Hosted by Jerry Williams.

NBCC biography and autobiography finalists in conversation with biography chair Eric Banks and autobiography co chair Rigoberto Gonzalez. With biography finalists Sarah Bakewell and Yunte Huang, autobiography finalists Patti Smith, Reiko Rehna Rizzuto, and others. Hosted by Brenda Wineapple.

Free and open to the public.

Readers include:

Fiction finalists Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen, David Grossman, translator Damion Searles reading for Hans Keilson, and Donna Tartt reading for Paul Murray.

Biography finalists Sarah Bakewell, Yunte Huang, and Thomas Powers.

Criticism finalists Elif Batuman, Terry Castle, Clare Cavanagh, Susie Linfield, and Ander Monson.

Nonfiction finalists S.C. Gwynne, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Isabel Wilkerson.

Autobiography finalists Kai Bird, David Dow, Christopher Hitchens, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, Darin Strauss, and Patti Smith.

Poetry finalists Anne Carson, Kathleen Graber, Terrance Hayes, and Kay Ryan.

The Awards Ceremony is free and open to the public. 

Reception to follow at Lang Center, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY

Tickets for the reception are $45:

NBCC Reads asks: What books would you like to see back in print? Join us for a discussion of the titles that have disappeared—wrongfully, unjustifiably—from bookstore shelves.

Moderated by Eric Banks, NBCC board member & curator, NBCC Reads
with Michael Miller, editor at Bookforum; he’s written for Time Out New York, Spin, the Village Voice Literary Supplement, and the Believer
NBCC autobiography finalist Honor Moore, poet, memoirist.
& Gary Giddins, jazz critic, winner of the NBCC award for criticism, and author of Warning Shadows: Home Alone with Classic Cinema

Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (moderator) w/ John Reed (Brooklyn Rail), Tim Brown, John Madera, John Deming.

These influential and celebrated American critics will appear in rotation before every Festival event with the intention to enhance Festival audience already-extensive list of must-reads. NBCC Stand-up Critics include Eric Banks, Jane Ciabattari, Rigoberto Gonzalez, Lev Grossman, Laura Miller, and Roxana Robinson.

April 25, 7:30 PM—- May 1, 8:00 PM

Participants: Morris Dickstein, Carsten Jensen, Fintan O’Toole, and Cynthia Ozick
Moderated by Jane Ciabattari

The critic’s voice indelibly shapes the works we read. But in an age when readers are rapidly migrating to Twitter book clubs, literary websites, Amazon reader reviews, how will the critic continue to lead literary conversations? Join a conversation about the new power of the book review and the emergence of a unique reader experience in the age of the digital revolution.

NBCC, Literati a Go Go & NYU’s Creative Writing Program invite you to a pre-BEA bash Monday May 23 from 7 to 9 pm

National Book Critics Circle presents “Book Reviews Online.” Panelists from the New York Times Book Review, The Daily Beast/Newsweek, NPR & Publishers Weekly update us on the new form in which many reviews and author interviews reach readers (this includes podcasts, video, expanded online content and social network platforms).

Jennifer McDonald, Staff Editor, The New York Times Book Review
Isaac Chotiner, Executive Editor, The Book: An Online Review at The New Republic
Parul Sehgal, Reviews Editor, Publishers Weekly & NBCC Balakian award winner
Lucas Wittman, Book Editor, The Daily Beast/Newsweek
Moderated by Jane Ciabattari, Vice President/Online,  National Book Critics Circle

National Book Critics Circle members talk about literary prizes with Chicago Tribune literary editor Elizabeth Taylor, Karen R. Long of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Booklist’s Barbara Seaman and Art Winslow.

Interactive discussion of The Next Decade in Book Culture with former Kansas poet laureate Denise Low, educator Mark Luce of the Barstow School, author Steve Weinberg and moderator John Mark Eberhart, the library’s Reader’s Advisory Coordinator.

With:
Literary agents Julie Just & Betsy Lerner
O Magazine book editor Sara Nelson
Brooklyn Rail editor John Reed
NY Times Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus
author David Goodwillie & Scribner’s editor Paul Whitlach
Moderated by Susan Shapiro.
Free admission

Every year, the National Book Critics Circle selects awards in six different literary categories, including autobiography/memoir. In Fall for the Book’s second annual partnership with the NBCC, critic and NBCC board member Marcela Valdes leads a discussion on the popularity and significance of this genre, welcoming several distinguished writers in this field.

Peter Manseau is the author the memoir Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son; the novel Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter; and most recently Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World’s Holy Dead. He has won the National Jewish Book Award, the Sophie Brody Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Jewish Literature, and the Ribalow Prize for Fiction, and he was shortlisted for the Mercantile Library First Novel Award. He is also a founding editor of KillingTheBuddha.com and coauthor of Killing the Buddha: A Heretic’s Bible.

E. Ethelbert Miller is the author of several collections of poems; his most recent, How We Sleep On The Nights We Don’t Make Love, was an Independent Publisher Award Finalist. His memoir Fathering Words: The Making of An African American Writer was selected by DC WE READ for its one book, one city program sponsored by the D.C. Public Libraries, and in his most recent memoir, The 5th Inning, Miller returns to “baseball, the game of his youth, in order to find the metaphor that will provide the measurement of his life.”

Ariel Sabar’s debut book, My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for his Family’s Past, won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography. His second book, Heart of the City, was published this year. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Monthly, and other publications.

Panel moderator Marcela Valdes is the books editor of The Washington Examiner and a contributing editor for Publishers Weekly. She writes for The Nation, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, and Bookforum, among other publications. She was a founder of Críticas, the English-language magazine devoted to Spanish-language books.  She is now serving her second term on the Board of Directors of the National Book Critics Circle.

The NBCC panel discussion takes place on Thursday, September 22, at 6 p.m. in Student Union Building II, Rooms 3, 4 and 5.

These authors are among the nearly 150 authors, artists and performers participating in the 13th annual Fall for the Book Festival, September 18-23, at George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus and at venues throughout Northern Virginia, D.C., and Maryland.

To stay up-to-date with the latest news on this year’s festival, bookmark the festival’s webpage here or join the mailing list on the left of the homepage to have information delivered directly to your inbox.

URBAN MIRRORS

The New School and the National Book Critics Circle present

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (AND BROOKLYN AND THE BRONX)

A reading/conversation with NBCC award finalists and winners in prose whose lives in the New York metropolitan area are reflected in their work.

With Darin Strauss, novelist and author of Half a Life, NBCC Award Winner in Autobiography; Lynne Tillman, novelist, essayist, short story writer (Someday This Will Be Funny) and author of NBCC award fiction finalist in No Lease on Life, and David Hajdu, NBCC award finalist in biography for Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, and Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña.

Moderated by Jane Ciabattari, NBCC VP/Onlne, former NBCC president (2008-2011)

Conversation with Parul Sehgal, Beth Gutcheon, Rob Spilman.
Moderated by Jane Ciabattari.

A Litcrawl event with Lev Grossman, Chad Harbach, and Meghan O’Rourke; moderator, Steven G. Kellman; a collaboration with the National Book Critics Circle

If the memoir craze is over, why is everybody still so obsessed with them and the bestseller lists overstuffed with first person nonfiction stories? Join this lively, candid discussion spilling the inside scoop on the fate and state of writing, reviewing and publishing all different kinds of autobiographies.

Distinguished Panelists Include:

-Tin House editor Rob Spillman

-Lindsay Harrison, author of MISSING

-Her Scribner’s editor Colin Harrison

-Sheila McClear, author of THE LAST OF THE LIVE NUDE GIRLS

-WME Literary agent Rebecca Oliver

-Literary agent Ryan Harbage

-Publishers Weekly editor Mark Rotella, author of AMORE

moderator NBCC member & LIGHTING UP/UNHOOKED memoirist Susan Shapiro

SAVE THE DATE

Featured reading: Bonnie Jo Campbell, Jennifer Egan, Jane Smiley, Darin Strauss, Isabel Wilkerson, hosted by Jane Ciabattari. Hilton Chicago and Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, Illinois.

Tickets for the membership lunch are $25.

The Awards Ceremony is free and open to the public.

Reception to follow at Lang Center, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY

Tickets for the reception are $50.