NEW YORK (AP) – Novelist Marilynne Robinson, economist Thomas Piketty and cartoonist Roz Chast are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle prizes.
Nobel laureate Toni Morrison will receive a lifetime achievement award, while National Book Award winner Phil Klay has won the John Leonard Prize for the best debut release of 2014, the short story collection “Redeployment.”
Leonard, who died in 2008, was a reviewer for The New York Times and other publications and a founder of the book critics circle known for championing new writers. Morrison, a rising star in the 1970s, was among his discoveries.
The 30 nominees for six competitive categories were announced Monday.
For the first time in the critics circle’s 40-year history, one book was a nominee in two categories. Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen,” a hybrid of verse, history and commentary, was cited in criticism and poetry.