NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� a posthumous memoir by Russian opposition leader and Adam Higginbotham's acclaimed work about the Challenger disaster are among the nominees for prizes.
Along with finalists in eight competitive categories, the critics circle on Thursday announced a lifetime achievement honor for 鈥淭he House On Mango Street鈥� author Sandra Cisneros, an excellence in reviewing prize for New York contributor Lauren Michele Jackson and a public service award for author-educator Lori Lynn Turner. The Black-owned publisher Third World Press is the recipient of the Toni Morrison Achievement Award, named for the
Winners will be announced during a March 20 ceremony in Manhattan. Maxine Hong Kingston, a former NBCC winner, will be the guest speaker as the critics circle marks its 50th anniversary.
Besides 鈥淛ames,鈥� Everett's retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," fiction nominees include Marie-Helene Bertino's 鈥淏eautyland,鈥� Joseph O'Neill's 鈥淕odwin,鈥� Hisham Matar's 鈥淢y Friends鈥� and Nora Lange's 鈥淯s Fools.鈥�
Navalny's 鈥淧atriot鈥� is a finalist for autobiography, along with Manjula Martin's 鈥淭he Last Fire Season,鈥� Wei Tchou's 鈥淟ittle Seed,鈥� Zito Madu's 鈥淭he Minotaur at Calle Lanza,鈥� and Erika Morillo's 鈥淢other Archive.鈥�
Higginbotham's 鈥淐hallenger鈥� was cited for nonfiction. The other nominees are Steve Coll's 鈥淭he Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America鈥檚 Invasion of Iraq,鈥� Edwidge Danticat's 鈥淲e're Alone,鈥� Tricia Romano's 鈥淭he Freaks Came Out To Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture鈥� and Gretchen Sisson's 鈥淩elinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood."
Poetry finalists include Anne Carson's 鈥淲rong Norma,鈥� Carl Phillips' 鈥淪cattered Snows,鈥� Jennifer Chang's 鈥淎n Authentic Life," Oliver Baez Bendorf's' 鈥淐onsider the Rooster鈥� and Dawn Lundy's 鈥淚nstructions for the Lovers.鈥� For biography, the nominees were Jane Kamesnky's 鈥淐andida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution鈥�; Cynthia Carr's 鈥淐andy Darling"; Jean Strouse's book on painter John Singer Sargent, 鈥淔amily Romance"; a biography of Harriet Tubman, Tiya Miles' 鈥淣ight Flyer"; and Amy Reading's 鈥淭he World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker.鈥�
Vinson Cunningham's 鈥淕reat Expectations,鈥� a political novel based in part on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, is a finalist for the John Leonard Prize for best first book. The other nominees are Rebecca Nagle's 鈥淏y the Fire We Carry鈥�; Tessa Hulls' graphic memoir, 鈥淔eeding Ghosts鈥�; Carrie Courogen's Elaine May biography, 鈥淢iss May Does Not Exist鈥�; and John Ganz's 鈥淲hen the Clock Broke.鈥�
Leonard, a co-founder of the NBCC and a former New York Times critic known for promoting emerging writers, died in 2008.
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
