Lorrie Moore and Naomi Klein among nominees for National Book Critics Circle awards

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FILE - In this July 1, 2015 file photo, Naomi Klein arrives for a news conference at the Vatican. On Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, the critics circle announced nominees in seven competitive categories, ranging from fiction to debut book to best translation. Winners will be announced March 12. Klein, Lorrie Moore, and the Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle awards. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

NEW YORK ā€“ Lorrie Moore, Naomi Klein and the Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle awards. Honorary prizes are going to Judy Blume and to a longtime ally of Blume's in the fight against book bans, the American Library Association.

On Thursday, the critics circle announced nominees in seven competitive categories, ranging from fiction to debut book to best translation. Winners will be announced March 12.

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Moore is a finalist for fiction, cited for ā€œI Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home,ā€ one of the few novels from an author best known for short stories. The other fiction nominees are Justin Torres' ā€œBlackouts,ā€ winner of the National Book Award last fall; Teju Cole's ā€œTremor,ā€ Daniel Mason's ā€œNorth Woodsā€; and Marie NDiaye's ā€œVengeance Is Mine,ā€ translated from the French by Jordan Stump.

Klein's ā€œDoppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World,ā€ her exploration of the Internet and the spread of misinformation, is a finalist for criticism. Also nominated were Grace E. Lavery's ā€œPleasure and Efficacy: Of Pen Names, Cover Versions, and Other Trans Techniques,ā€ Tina Post's ā€œDeadpan: The Aesthetics of Black Inexpression,ā€ Nicholas Dames' ā€œThe Chapter: A Segmented History from Antiquity to the Twenty-First Centuryā€ and Myriam Gurba's "Creep: Accusations and Confessions," essays by the author who became a prominent critic of the lack of diversity in publishing.

Naji, convicted in Egypt in 2016 for ā€œviolating public modestyā€ in his novel ā€œUsing Life,ā€ is a finalist in autobiography for ā€œRotten Evidence: Reading and Writing in an Egyptian Prison," translated by Katharine Halls. Naji's imprisonment led to international criticism and to his receiving the Freedom to Write Award from PEN America. His conviction was overturned the following year, and he left the country in 2019, eventually settling in the U.S. The other nominees are Safiya Sinclair's acclaimed memoir ā€œHow to Say Babylon,ā€ Matthew Zapruder's ā€œStory of a Poem,ā€ Susan Kiyo Ito's ā€œI Would Meet You Anywhere," and David Mas Masumoto's ā€œSecret Harvests,ā€ with artwork by Patricia Wakida.

In biography, the nominees were Jonathan Coe's Martin Luther King book, ā€œKing"; Gregg Hecimovich, The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts"; Yunte Huang's ā€œDaughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wongā€™s Rendezvous with American Historyā€; Rachel Shteir's ā€œBetty Friedan,ā€ and Jonny Steinberg's ā€œWinnie and Nelson,ā€ about the Mandelas.

The poetry finalists were Saskia Hamilton's ā€œAll Souls,ā€ Kim Hyesoon's ā€œPhantom Pain Wings,ā€ Romeo Oriogun's ā€œThe Gathering of Bastards," Robyn Schiff's ā€œInformation Deskā€ and Charif Shanahan's ā€œTrace Evidence.ā€

In translation, Kareem Abdulrahman was nominated for his translation from the Kurdish of Bachtyar Ali's ā€œThe Last Pomegranate Tree, and Natascha Bruce for her translation from the Chinese of Dorothy Tse's ā€Owlish." The other finalists were Don Mee Choi's translation from the Korean of Kim Hyesoon's ā€œPhantom Pain Wings,ā€ Todd Fredson's translation from the French/BĆ©tĆ© of Azo Vauguy's ā€œZakwato & LoglĆŖdouā€™s Peril,ā€ Maureen Freelyā€™s translation from the Turkish of the late Tezer ƖzlĆ¼'s ā€œCold Nights of Childhood" and Tiffany Tsaoā€™s translation from the Indonesian Norman Erikson Pasaribu's ā€Happy Stories, Mostly."

Nominees for the John Leonard Prize for Best First Book, named for the late critic and co-founder of the critics circle, are Ariana Benson's ā€œBlack Pastoral,ā€ Emilie Boone's ā€œA Nimble Arc,ā€ Victor Heringer's ā€œThe Love of Singular Men,ā€ Tahir Hamut Izgil's ā€œWaiting to Be Arrested at Night," Donovan X. Ramsey's ā€œWhen Crack Was Kingā€ and Martin J. Siegel's ā€œJudgment and Mercy.ā€

Besides Blume and the library association, honorary awards will be presented to Washington Post critic Becca Rothfield for excellence in reviewing and to Marion Winik of NPR's ā€œAll Things Consideredā€ for service to the literary community.

The book critics circle, founded in 1974, consists of hundreds of reviewers and editors from around the country.


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