Big news: the NBCC membership has spoken, and the 2017 John Leonard Prize finalists have been chosen. Here’s this year’s superb list:
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah (Riverhead)
Marlena by Julie Buntin (Holt)
What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons (Viking)
Whereas by Layli Long Soldier (Graywolf)
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf)
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent (Riverhead)
Nominations for the Leonard prize, for a first book in any genre, are open to any regular voting NBCC member; the six finalists are those titles with the most nominations. A panel of member-volunteers will read the finalists and select the winner, to be announced in January. The John Leonard Prize will be presented at the NBCC Awards Ceremony at The New School in New York on March 15, 2018.