The National Book Critics Circle announced its 2019 Award Winners, and the winners of three additional prizes: the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, John Leonard Prize, and Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing.
The six finalists were selected from 31 finalists across six different categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Fiction, Poetry, and Criticism.
Anna Burns won the big prize in fiction for Milkman, which also won the 2018 Man Booker Prize. Zadie Smith was awarded the prize in criticism for Feel Free: Essays (found in our February 2018 Monthly Book Preview); the Poetry award went to The Carrying by Ada Limón (found in our August 2018 Must-Read Poetry list). Nora Krug won the Autobiography award for Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home; Christopher Bonanos won the Biography award for Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous; and Steve Coll was awarded the prize in Nonfiction for Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As to the three stand-alone awards, Arte Público Press won the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award for its contributions to book culture; Maureen Corrigan won the Nona Balakin Citation for Excellence in Reviewing; and Tommy Orange’s There There won the John Leonard Prize for a first book in any genre. (Read Orange’s 2018 Year in Reading entry).
