The finalists for the annual National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Award have been announced. The fiction list is an eclectic five, in keeping with what is typically one of the more well-rounded fiction shortlists out there. Here are the finalists for fiction and non-fiction with excerpts and other links where available. In addition to the Fiction finalists, the John Leonard Prize, which goes to a debut work, was awarded to Phil Klay for Redeployment. Charles Finch was among the finalists for the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. In October, Finch published “The Truce Between Fabulism and Realism: On Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the Modern Novel” at The Millions.
Fiction
- Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman (Alameddine’s Year in Reading)
- Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings (The Book Report: Episode 5)
- Lily King, Euphoria (Celeste Ng’s Year in Reading)
- Chang-Rae Lee, On Such a Full Sea (Bill Morris’s Year in Reading)
- Marilynne Robinson, Lila (“Marilynne Robinson’s Singular Vision“)
Nonfiction
- David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation (excerpt)
- Peter Finn and Petra Couvée, The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book (excerpt)
- Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction (“Extinction Stories: The Ecological True-Crime Genre“)
- Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (excerpt)
- Hector Tobar, Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle that Set Them Free (excerpt)
For more on the NBCC Awards and the finalists in the other categories, visit the NBCC.
