Finalists have been selected in six categories for the National Book Critics Circle Awards, along with shortlists for the John Leonard Prize for First Book and the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize. Winners will be named on March 20 in New York City. Check out the complete list of finalists here.
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the NBCC Awards. Maxine Hong Kingston, who won the 1976 NBCC Nonfiction Award for The Woman Warrior, will speak in honor of the semicentennial.
"The NBCC remains, as president Ivan Sandrof said at our first ceremony, 'fiercely independent,' the only literary prize selected by the critics themselves," said NBCC president Heather Scott Partington. "This year's finalist list represents another collection of innovative and bold writing. These essential works break down barriers and expectations. As censorship and book bans continue, these new classics communicate indispensable truths and beg to be read. These writers and translators stand shoulder to shoulder with NBCC honorees of the past 50 years. By celebrating their work, we seek to honor the rights of all people to write and to read."
In addition, Sandra Cisneros is receiving the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, Lauren Michele Jackson has won the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, and the winner of the Toni Morrison Achievement Award, recognizing "institutions that have made lasting and meaningful contributions to book culture," is Third World Press.
"As one of the seminal figures in the Chicano literary movement, Cisneros has an unmatched record as a change agent and community builder," Achievement Awards committee chair Jacob M. Appel said. "She writes specifically of the Mexican-American experience, but with a deep emotional understanding and resonance that universalizes the challenges of immigration, exile, and dislocation."
Balakian winner Jackson's "gorgeously written reviews are thoughtful, informed and a joy to read," noted committee chair Colette Bancroft. The NBCC Service Award this year will honor Lori Lynn Turner, associate director of the New School Creative Writing Program.
Regarding Third World Press, Appel commented: "Under the helm of Haki R. Madhubuti, the Chicago-based publisher has championed generations of Black authors and is largely responsible for keeping the works of celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks in print."
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Mick Herron is the recipient of the 2025 CWA Diamond Dagger, which is sponsored by the Crime Writers' Association and recognizes "authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre." The Diamond Dagger will be presented at the annual CWA Dagger Awards on July 3.
Vaseem Khan, chair of the CWA, said: "I am delighted that the Diamond Dagger judges have picked Mick as their recipient this year. Few could be more deserving. Mick is the quintessential writers' writer and his Slough House novels have, by general consensus, reinvented the spy thriller, going on to delight millions on the page and onscreen. The Diamond Dagger is a fitting tribute to a writer whose work has become both cultural marker and record of our time."
Herron commented: "I've spent the best part of my life--not the majority of it; just the best part--in the crime writers' community, and to receive this accolade from these friends and colleagues is both a career highlight and a personal joy. I'm touched and thrilled beyond measure, and will try to live up to the honor."