The National Book Critics Circle announced yesterday the winners of the 2007 book awards during a ceremony at the New School in New York City. Mary Jo Bang won in poetry for Elegy (Graywolf), Junot Díaz won in fiction for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Riverhead), and Edwidge Danticat won in autobiography for Brother, I'm Dying (Knopf). Awards were also given in the categories of biography, criticism, and nonfiction.
Emilie Buchwald, writer, editor, and founder of Milkweed Editons, was awarded the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award. Sam Anderson, book critic for New York Magazine, received the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing.
The annual awards are given for books published in the previous year, selected by members of the National Book Critics Circle board. Founded in 1974, the National Book Critics Circle is a nonprofit organization comprised of eight hundred book reviewers nationwide.
