NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES ITS FINALISTS FOR PUBLISHING YEAR 2013
First-ever John Leonard Prize goes to Anthony Marra for “A Constellation of Vital Phenomena”
New York, NY, January 13 –– The National Book Critics Circle today announced its 30 finalists in six categories –– autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry –for the best books of 2013. The winners of an additional three prizes were announced as well. The National Book Critics Circle Awards, founded in 1974 at the Algonquin Hotel 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 13 at the New School, in a ceremony that is free and open to the public.
Anthony Marra’s novel A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (Hogarth) is the debut recipient of the John Leonard Prize, established this year to recognize outstanding first books in any genre. Named to honor the memory of founding NBCC member John Leonard, the prize is uniquely decided by a direct vote of the organization’s nearly 600 members nationwide, whereas the traditional awards are nominated and chosen by the elected 24-member board of directors.
The recipient of the 2013 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing is Katherine A. Powers, contributor to many national book review sections, including the Boston Globe, the Washington Post and the Barnes and Noble Review. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is the editor of Suitable Accommodations: An Autobiographical Story of Family Life: The Letters of J. F. Powers, 1942–1963. For the second time in its 27-year history, the Balakian Citation carries with it a $1,000 cash prize, generously endowed by NBCC board member Gregg Barrios.
The recipient of the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award is Rolando Hinojosa-Smith. At 84, Hinojosa-Smith is the dean of Chicano authors, best known for his ambitious Klail City Death Trip cycle of novels. He is also an accomplished translator and essayist, as well as a mentor and inspiration to several generations of writers. A recipient of the 1976 Premio Casa de las Americas, Hinojosa-Smith is professor of literature at the University of Texas, Austin, where he has taught for nearly three decades.
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE FINALISTS, PUBLISHING YEAR 2013:
NONA BALAKIAN CITATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN REVIEWING
Katherine A. Powers
Finalists:
Ruth Franklin
James Marcus
Roxana Robinson
Alexandra Schwartz
IVAN SANDROF LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Rolando Hinojosa-Smith
JOHN LEONARD PRIZE
Anthony Marra, A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA (Hogarth)
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Sonali Deraniyagala, WAVE (Knopf)
Aleksandar Hemon, THE BOOK OF MY LIVES (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Rebecca Solnit, THE FARAWAY NEARBY (Viking)
Jesmyn Ward, MEN WE REAPED (Bloomsbury)
Amy Wilentz, FAREWELL, FRED VOODOO: A LETTER FROM HAITI (Simon & Schuster)
BIOGRAPHY
Scott Anderson, LAWRENCE IN ARABIA: WAR, DECEIT, IMPERIAL FOLLY AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST (Doubleday)
Leo Damrosch, JONATHAN SWIFT: HIS LIFE AND HIS WORLD (Yale University Press)
John Eliot Gardiner, BACH: MUSIC IN THE CASTLE OF HEAVEN (Knopf)
Linda Leavell, HOLDING ON UPSIDE DOWN: THE LIFE AND WORK OF MARIANNE MOORE (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Mark Thompson, BIRTH CERTIFICATE: THE STORY OF DANILO KIS (Cornell University Press)
CRITICISM
Hilton Als, WHITE GIRLS (McSweeney’s)
Mary Beard, CONFRONTING THE CLASSICS: TRADITIONS, ADVENTURES AND INNOVATIONS (Liveright)
Jonathan Franzen, THE KRAUS PROJECT: Essays by Karl Kraus, translated and annotated by Jonathan Franzen with Paul Reiter and Daniel Kehlmann (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Janet Malcolm, FORTY-ONE FALSE STARTS: ESSAYS ON ARTISTS AND WRITERS (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Franco Moretti, DISTANT READING (Verso)
FICTION
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, AMERICANAH (Knopf)
Alice McDermott, SOMEONE (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Javier Marias, THE INFATUATIONS (Knopf)
Ruth Ozeki, A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING (Viking)
Donna Tartt, THE GOLDFINCH (Little, Brown)
NONFICTION
Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy, WHITEY BULGER: AMERICA’S MOST WANTED GANGSTER AND THE MANHUNT THAT BROUGHT HIM TO JUSTICE (Norton)
Sheri Fink, FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL: LIFE AND DEATH IN A STORM-RAVAGED HOSPITAL (Crown)
David Finkel, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE (Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
George Packer, THE UNWINDING: AN INNER HISTORY OF THE NEW AMERICA (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Lawrence Wright, GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY, HOLLYWOOD AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF (Knopf)
POETRY
Frank Bidart, METAPHYSICAL DOG (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Lucie Brock-Broido, STAY, ILLUSION (Knopf)
Denise Duhamel, BLOWOUT (University of Pittsburgh Press)
Bob Hicok, ELEGY OWED (Copper Canyon)
Carmen Gimenez Smith, MILK AND FILTH (University of Arizona Press)
Tickets to the awards ceremony's after-party are $75, and may be purchased now. NBCC members may purchase tickets to the after-party in advance for $50. Click here to purchase tickets.
