NEW YORK 鈥� Edwidge Danticat's story collection 鈥淓verything Inside鈥� has won the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction. Chanel Miller was awarded in autobiography for 鈥淜now My Name,鈥� her book about being sexually assaulted by Stanford University student Brock Turner.
The critics circle usually announces its awards during a Manhattan ceremony, but called off the gathering over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. This year's
Danticat's stories 鈥� tales of love, family and mortality set partly in her native Haiti 鈥� previously won the Story prize for best short fiction. The critics circle praised 鈥淓verything Inside" for narratives that have 鈥渘o forced happy endings, no unearned deliverances.鈥�
For biography, the critics chose Patrick Radden Keefe's 鈥淪ay Nothing: The True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. Josh Levin's 鈥淭he Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth鈥� won in biography and Morgan Parker's 鈥淢agical Negro鈥� received the poetry award. Saidiya Hartman 鈥漌ayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Stories of Social Upheaval" was the winner in the criticism category.
Among the finalists for autobiography was Ronan Farrow's 鈥淐atch and Kill,鈥� based on his Pulitzer Prize winning reporting about Harvey Weinstein. The Hollywood producer was sentenced this week to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.
Sarah M. Broom's memoir 鈥淭he Yellow House鈥� received the John Leonard Award for best first book. An honorary award for criticism was given to The New Yorker's Katy Waldman and the poet and novelist Naomi Shihab Nye received a lifetime achievement prize.
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
