NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Fiction by Percival Everett and Ling Ma, nonfiction by Annie Proulx and biographies of George Balanchine and J. Edgar Hoover are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle awards. Former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo has won an honorary award for lifetime achievement.
Last fall's Tess Gunty's 鈥淭he Rabbit Hutch,鈥� is a nominee for best first book. Other finalists announced Tuesday night include Ed Yong's 鈥淎n Immense World,鈥� recently awarded a Carnegie Medal from the American Library Association, and the poetry collection 鈥淢ilkweed Smithereens,鈥� by Bernadette Mayer, who died in November at age 77.
Winners will be announced March 23 during a ceremony in Manhattan. Besides Harjo's award, the NBCC also will present honorary prizes to former critics circle president Barbara Hoffert, San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore and the critic Jennifer Wilson, who writes for The Nation and The New York Times.
In fiction, nominees include Everett's novel 鈥淒r. No,鈥� Ma's story collection 鈥淏liss Montage,鈥� Namwali Serpell's 鈥淭he Furrows,鈥� and two works in translation: Jon Fosse's 鈥淎 New Name: Septology VI-VII" and Mieko Kawakami's 鈥淎ll the Lovers in the Night.鈥�
Finalists in autobiography are Jazmina Barrera's 鈥淟inea Nigra: An Essay on Pregnancy and Earthquakes,鈥� Hua Hsu's 鈥淪tay True: A Memoir,鈥� Dorthe Nors' 鈥淎 Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast,鈥� Darryl Pinckney's 鈥淐ome Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-seventh Street, Manhattan鈥� and Ingrid Rojas Contreras' 鈥淭he Man Who Could Move Clouds.鈥�
In biography, the nominees are Beverly Gage's Hoover biography 鈥淕-Man,鈥� Jennifer Homans' 鈥淢r. B: George Balanchine鈥檚 20th Century,鈥� Kerri K. Greenidge's 鈥淭he Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family,鈥� Clare Mac Cumhaill's and Rachael Wiseman's 鈥淢etaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life鈥� and Aaron Sachs' 鈥淯p from the Depths: Herman Melville, Louis Mumford, and Rediscovery in Dark Times.鈥�
Pulitzer Prize winner Margo Jefferson's 鈥淐onstructing a Nervous System鈥� is a finalist for criticism, along with Rachel Aviv's 鈥淪trangers to Ourselves,鈥� Timothy Bewes' 鈥淔ree Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional Age,鈥� Peter Brooks' 鈥淪educed by Story鈥� and Alia Trabucco Zer谩n's 鈥淲hen Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold.鈥�
In nonfiction, nominees besides Yong include Proulx's environmental study 鈥淔en, Bog, & Swamp,鈥� Isaac Butler's 鈥淭he Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act,鈥� Kelly Lytle Hernandez's 鈥淏ad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands鈥� and Joseph Osmundson's essay collection 鈥淰irology.鈥�
Meyer was a finalist in the poetry category, along with Mosab Abu Toha's 鈥淭hings You May Find Hidden in My Ear,鈥� Cynthia Cruz's 鈥淗otel Oblivion,鈥� David Hernandez's 鈥淗ello I Must Be Going鈥� and Paul Hlava Ceballos' 鈥渂anana.鈥�
For the first time, the NBCC will award a prize for translation. The nominees are Boris Dralyuk鈥檚 translation from the Russian of Andrey Kurkov's 鈥淕rey Bees,鈥� Jennifer Croft鈥檚 translation from the Polish of Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's 鈥淭he Books of Jacob,鈥� Fady Joudah鈥檚 translation from the Arabic of Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's 鈥淵ou Can Be the Last Leaf,鈥� Mara Faye Lethem鈥檚 translation from the Catalan of Irene Sol脿's 鈥淲hen I Sing, Mountains Dance,鈥� Christina MacSweeney鈥檚 translation from the Spanish of Barrera's 鈥淟inea Nigra鈥� and Mark Polizzotti鈥檚 translation from the French of Scholastique Mukasonga's 鈥淜ibogo.鈥�
Gunty is a finalist for best debut work, along with Jessamine Chan's 鈥淭he School for Good Mothers,鈥� Jonathan Escoffery's 鈥淚f I Survive You,鈥� Zain Khalid's 鈥淏rother Alive,鈥� Maud Newton's 鈥淎ncestor Trouble,鈥� Morgan Talty's 鈥淣ight of the Living Rez鈥� and Vauhini Vara's 鈥淭he Immortal King Rao.鈥�
The NBCC was founded in 1974, and includes more than 600 members from around the country.
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
