National Book Critics Circle Awards Announces First-Ever Longlist for Autobiography

The National Books Critics Circle Awards has shared its first-ever longlist for Autobiography.

On Dec. 17, the NBCC announced its longlist for the genre. In honor of their 50th anniversary, the organization is announcing longlists for six genres, including fiction, nonfiction, biography, autobiography, poetry and criticism, from Dec. 16 to Dec. 19.

“The NBCC is proud to release our longlists for the first time in our 50-year history,” said Heather Scott Partington, NBCC President, in the organization’s initial announcement on Dec. 16. “Revealing them allows us to honor more writers, translators and books than we ever have in a single year. The best books of 2024 were narratives of resilience, interrogation and imagination. They asked us to question power, art and genre.”

“At a time when the freedom to read is under attack, we’re thrilled to shout these authors’ names from the rooftops,” Partington added. “We celebrate their fearlessness and artistic vision. These are vital words.”

The Autobiography longlist includes:

• Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls
• The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History by Manjula Martin
• Like a Sky Inside by Jakuta Alikavazovic, translated from the French by Daniel Levin Becker
• Little Seed by Wei Tchou
• The Minotaur at Calle Lanza by Zito Madu
• Manboobs: A Memoir of Musicals, Visas, Hope, and Cake by Komail Aijazuddin
• Mother Archive: A Dominican Family Memoir by Erika Morillo
• My Good Bright Wolf: A Memoir by Sarah Moss
• Patriot: A Memoir by Alexei Navalny, translated from the Russian by Arch Tait with Stephen Dalziel
• Women Surrounded by Water: A Memoir by Patricia Coral

The National Book Critics Circle Award is the only national literary award chosen solely by book critics. The award “honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature,” per its website.

In addition to the NBCC awards in each genre, the panel also awards the John Leonard Prize, for the best debut book in any genre, and the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize.

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Winners of the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award included Lorrie Moore (Fiction), Roxanna Asgarian (Nonfiction), Jonny Steinberg (Biography), Safiya Sinclair (Autobiography), Kim Hyesoon and translator Don Mee Choi (Poetry) and Tina Post (Criticism). Tahir Hamut Izgil and translator Joshua L. Freeman won the John Leonard Prize and Tezer Özlü and translator Maureen Freely won the Gregg Barrios Prize.

The 2024 NBCC finalists will be announced on Jan. 23, 2025, and awards will be presented on March 20, 2024.