The finalists for the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) awards have been announced. The NBCC honours outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature.
Fiction
- Moonglow by Michael Chabon
- LaRose by Louise Erdrich
- Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
- Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
- Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Non-fiction
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
- Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
- Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
- Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War by Viet Thanh Nguyen
- Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File by John Edgar Wideman
Autobiography
- The Iceberg by Marion Coutts
- In Gratitude by Jenny Diski
- Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
- The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar
- The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father by Kao Kalia Yang
Biography
- Moscow Nights: The Van Cliburn Story by Nigel Cliff
- Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin
- Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary by Joe Jackson
- Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White by Michael Tisserand
- Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey by Frances Wilson
Criticism
- White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
- Against Everything: Essays by Mark Greif
- Looking for The Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic by Alice Kaplan
- The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing
- Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live by Peter Orner
Poetry
- House of Lords and Commons by Ishion Hutchinson
- Olio by Tyehimba Jess
- Works and Days by Bernadette Mayer
- At the Foundling Hospital by Robert Pinsky
- Blackacre by Monica Youn
Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing
Michelle Dean
Finalists: Julia M. Klein, Christian Lorentzen, Becca Rothfeld, Leo Robson
John Leonard Prize (for best debut novel)
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award
Margaret Atwood