The National Book Critics Circle has announced their finalists for the 2020 NBCC Awards. We are proud to represent three indomitable speakers whose books made the list. With masterful writing in both fiction and nonfiction, these authors have created works that push the boundaries of literature and profoundly shift readers’ perspectives. Congratulations to our speakers!
Cathy Park Hong, Namwali Serpell, Bryan Washington, Isabel Wilkerson and Megha Majumdar join the ranks of many other PRHSB speakers who are NBCC Award winners, including: Darin Strauss, author of Half a Life; Edwidge Danticat, author of Brother I’m Dying; Isabel Wilkerson (again!), author of The Warmth of Other Suns; David Nasaw, author of The Chief; Dexter Filkins, author of The Forever War; Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao; Yaa Gyasi, author of Homegoing; Jennifer Egan, author of Welcome to the Goon Squad; and Tommy Orange, who won the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize for There There.
Fiction
The Old Drift – Namwali Serpell
2020 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award, Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction, Winner of the Windham-Campbell Prizes for Fiction, New York Times Best Books of 2020, New York Times Book Review Best Books of 2020, The Atlantic’s Best Books of 2019, TIME‘s Best Books of 2020, NPR’s Favorite Books of 2020
“In this wonderfully chaotic epic, Namwali Serpell invites us into an indelible world that’s part history, part sci-fi, totally political, and often as heartbreaking as it is weirdly hilarious.”—The Boston Globe
Memorial - Bryan Washington
2020 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Good Morning America Book Club Pick, New York Times Best Books of 2020, Washington Post’s Best Books of 2020, EW’s Best Books of 2020, Oprah Magazine’s Best Books of 2020, NPR’s Favorite Books of 2020
“A masterpiece.” —NPR
How Much These Hills is Gold – C Pam Zhang
2020 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Longlisted for 2020 Booker Prize, 2020 Finalist for The Center for Fiction First Novel, A New York Times Notable Book, A Washington Post Notable Book, A National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” Honoree
“Belongs on a shelf all of its own.” —NPR
A Burning - Megha-Majumdar
2020 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Longlisted for National Book Award 2020, Shortlisted for Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, A New York Times Notable Book, New York Times Bestseller, A Today Show Book Club Pick
“Propulsive…ambitious…beautiful and supple…heartbreaking.” —The Boston Globe
Nonfiction
Minor Feelings – Cathy Park Hong
2020 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, New York Times Best Books of 2020, NPR’s Favorite Books of 2020, TIME‘s Best Books of 2020, Buzzfeed‘s Best Books of 2020, Esquire‘s Best Books of 2020
“Hong begins her new book of essays with a bang. . . .The essays wander a variegated terrain of memoir, criticism and polemic, oscillating between smooth proclamations of certainty and twitches of self-doubt. . . . Minor Feelings is studded with moments [of] candor and dark humor shot through with glittering self-awareness.”—The New York Times
Caste - Isabel Wilkerson
2020 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Longlisted for the National Book Award, New York Times Bestseller, Time’s Nonfiction Book of 2020, People’s Best Books of 2020, Washington Post’s Best Books of 2020, New York Times Book Review Best Books of 2020, Oprah Magazine’s Best Book of 2020, NPR’s Best Books of 2020, Bloomberg’s Best Books of 2020
An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times