Nigerian novelist Adichie among winners of National Book Critics Circle prizes

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The latest novel by the acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “Americanah,” has won the National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction.

Sheri Fink’s book on Hurricane Katrina, “Five Days at Memorial,” won for nonfiction. The biography winner was Leo Damrosch’s “Jonathan Swift” and Amy Wilentz’s “Farewell, Fred Voodoo” received the autobiography prize.

Other winners Thursday included Frank Bidart’s “Metaphysical Dog” for poetry and Franco Moretti’s “Distant Reading” for criticism. The critics circle presented its inaugural award for a debut book of any genre, the John Leonard Prize, to Anthony Marra for his novel “A Constellation of Vital Phenomena.” John Leonard died in 2008 and was a longtime reviewer and a founder of the critics circle.

The NBCC was established in 1974 and has around 600 members.