National Book Critic’s Circle Awards

Ok- for all you reviewers out there, you probably know all about this one.

For the rest of us, the National Book Critic’s Circle was founded in 1974 and is open for voting membership to ANYONE who professionally reviews books. Everyone else (including students) can be an associate member. I was very pleased to see that membership was surprisingly affordable. ($25-$75, depending on if your employer chips in or not). They are a 501c3 organization, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, and blogging at http://bookcritics.org/blog/. Publishers and Board Members submit works for consideration for this award. Eventually a list of finalists is narrowed down, and the winners in 6 categories are selected. This year’s winners are:

Fiction

Edith Pearlman

Binocular Vision: New & Selected Stories
(Lookout Books)

General Nonfiction

Maya Jasanoff

Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World

(Knopf)

Biography

John Lewis Gaddis

George F. Kennan: An American Life
(Penguin Press)

Poetry

Laura Kasischke

Space, in Chains
(Copper Canyon Press)

Autobiography

Mira Bartók

The Memory Palace: A Memoir
(Free Press)

Criticism

Geoff Dyer

Otherwise Known as the Human Condition: Selected Essays and Reviews
(Graywolf Press)

Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing

Kathryn Schulz

Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award

Robert B. Silvers

For a list of past winners, click HERE.

For membership information, click HERE.

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