The finalists for the annual National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Award have been announced. The fiction list includes one of the biggest fiction releases of last year and a book in translation. As often tends to be the case, the NBCC is offering up what may be the most well-rounded fiction shortlist you’ll find. Here are the finalists for fiction and non-fiction with excerpts and other links where available. As a side note, the NBCC award is particularly interesting in that it is one of the few major awards that pits American books against overseas (usually British) books. Finally, this was first year of the new John Leonard Prize, which goes to a debut work and was awarded to Anthony Marra for A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.
Fiction
- Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch (excerpt, Janice Clark’s Year in Reading, Adam Dalva’s essay)
- Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Americanah (excerpt, the author’s Year in Reading)
- Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being (excerpt, Dani Shapiro’s Year in Reading)
- Alice McDermott, Someone (excerpt, the author’s Year in Reading)
- Javier Marias, The Infatuations (excerpt, our review)
Nonfiction
- Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy, Whitey Bulger (excerpt)
- Sheri Fink, Five Days at Memorial (excerpt)
- David Finkel, Thank You for Your Service (excerpt)
- George Packer, The Unwinding (excerpt, our review)
- Lawrence Wright, Going Clear (excerpt, Aleksandar Hemon’s Year in Reading)
For more on the NBCC Awards and the finalists in the other categories, visit the NBCC.
