NBCC members, check your e-mail to vote for the winner of our inaugural John Leonard Prize for best first book in any genre. NBCC members nominated more than 80 books across six genres, and we've come up with a strong slate of the 7 top nominees. They are:
Elliott Holt: “You Are One of Them” / Penguin Press (fiction)
Boris Kachka: “Hothouse” / Simon & Schuster (nonfiction)
Anthony Marra: “A Constellation of Vital Phenomena” / Hogarth (fiction)
Leigh Newman: “Still Points North” / Dial Press (autobiography)
Jamie Quatro: “I Want to Show You More” / Grove/Atlantic (fiction)
Ethan Rutherford: “The Peripatetic Coffin” / Ecco (fiction)
Helene Wecker: “The Golem and the Jinni” / HarperCollins (fiction)
We'll be discussing the nominees on the NBCC Facebook page and on Twitter over the next few weeks, and hope you'll join in. When you're ready to vote, use the link to the ballot you'll receive in your in-box.
The deadline for voting is January 8. I'd like to thank Carolyn Kellogg for spearheading the Leonard Prize committee — she's been working hard to ensure the prize gets off to a great start.