National Book Critics Circle Awards: 2009 Winners Announced
It was a big year for the Brits as the National Book Critics Circle announced their annual awards this evening in New York. One thing that separates the NBCCs from the other major U.S. book awards (along with the lack of prize money!) is that they are open to authors from outside the U.S., and this year the three big U.K. names on the ballot--Hillary Mantel, Richard Holmes, and Diana Athill--all came home with prizes. Some grumbling already at the predictability of the winners (Ed Champion tweeted, "The NBCC Awards: proving again to be as adventurous as a bean counter daring to order a dull turkey wrap for lunch"--anybody else get the Sam Lipsyte reference?), but hard for us to argue, as Wolf Hall, Cheever, and The Age of Wonder both finished high in our Best Books of 2009 list.
You can see all the nominees in this post, and these are tonight's winners:
- Fiction: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
- Nonfiction: The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes (just out in paperback)
- Autobiography: Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
- Biography: Cheever by Blake Bailey (also just out in pb)
- Criticism: Notes from No Man's Land: American Essays by Eula Biss
- Poetry: Versed by Rae Armantrout
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