Books that explore subjects from William Shakespeare and The Beatles to the lure of Mount Everest and life inside one of the world’s most secretive states are competing to be named the best-ever winner of Britain’s leading nonfiction book prize.

A book that argues Elizabethan poet John Donne should rank alongside William Shakespeare as a literary genius has won Britain’s leading nonfiction book award.

Colson Whitehead’s “Harlem Shuffle,” Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ “The Love Songs of W.

A book about a wealthy American family whose actions helped unleash the United States’ opioid epidemic has won Britain’s leading nonfiction book prize.

This combination of photos released by Knopf shows the cover of "Everything Inside," by Edwidge Danticat, left, and a portrait of Danticat. Danticat's story collection has won the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction. (Knopf/left, and Lynn Savarese via AP)NEW YORK, N.Y. – Edwidge Danticat's story collection “Everything Inside” has won the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction. The critics circle usually announces its awards during a Manhattan ceremony, but called off the gathering over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. Danticat's stories — tales of love, family and mortality set partly in her native Haiti — previously won the Story prize for best short fiction.