Critical Notes

New Reviews and More From NBCC Members

By Jennie Hann

We’ve got big news to report this week. Drumroll, please . . .

The NBCC is thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2022-2023 Emerging Critics Fellowship:

Layla Benitez-James

Kathy Chow

Summer Farah

Ella Fox-Martens

Ricardo Jaramillo

Ade Omotosho

S.M. Sukardi

Steffan Triplett

Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon

Liz Wood

Stay tuned to learn more about each of these critics in future issues of this newsletter!!

(The Emerging Critics Fellowship, launched by Elizabeth Taylor in 2017, seeks to identify, nurture, and support the development of the next generation of book critics. Fellows receive mentorship from NBCC board members, including regular professional development sessions, as well as dues-free membership to the organization for one year.)

As always, please stay safe, and thanks for reading and supporting the NBCC!!

Member Reviews/Essays

For The Atlantic, NBCC VP/Membership+Tech Chelsea Leu wrote a roundup of nine books published in the early days of the pandemic that are still worth reading.

NBCC VP/Online David Varno wrote up a list of this fall’s notable literary fiction titles for Publishers Weekly, as part of their semiannual announcements feature.

Former NBCC board member Mark Athitakis reviewed Andrew Holleran’s new novel, The Kingdom of Sand, for the Los Angeles Times.

Former NBCC board member and 2006 Balakian winner Steven G. Kellman reviewed Jhumpa Lahiri’s Translating Myself and Others for TintJournal.

Hamilton Cain reviewed Ada Calhoun’s Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me for The Boston Globe.

Martha Anne Toll reviewed Scott Bane’s A Union Like Ours: The Love Story of F.O. Matthiessen and Russell Cheney for the Washington Independent Review of Books. She also reviewed Stuart Isakoff’s Musical Revolutions: How the Sounds of the Western World Changed for The Washington Post.

Meredith Maran reviewed The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz for Oprah Daily.

Eric Liebetrau gave a roundup of ten new summer nonfiction titles for Kirkus Reviews.

Lanie Tankard reviewed When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà, translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem, for The Woven Tale Press.

Julia M. Klein reviewed Looking for Alicia: The Unfinished Life of an Argentinian Rebel by Marc Raboy for the Forward.

Joan Frank reviewed Also a Poet by Ada Calhoun for The Washington Post.

Dana Wilde reviewed Monkey: A Russian Novel by Agnes Bushell for his Off Radar column for Central Maine Newspapers.

Daniel Schwartz reviewed Greg Chase’s Wittgenstein and Modernist Fiction: The Language of Acknowledgement for On the Seawall.

Former NBCC board member Steve Paul’s memorial essay about the late Hemingway scholar, poet, and professor H.R. “Stoney” Stoneback was a special feature in the spring 2022 issue of The Hemingway Review. His essay on the poetry of William Stafford, “Listening for the Wind in a Stafford Quartet,” appeared recently in the Friends of William Stafford Newsletter.

W. Scott Olsen reviewed Northern Plains Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective, Volume Two by Shane Balkowitsch for Frames Magazine.

Tess Lewis reviewed Jhumpa Lahiri’s Translating Myself and Others for The Arts Fuse.

Member Interviews

Paul Zakrzewski interviewed Brad Listi about his new autofiction novel, Be Brief and Tell Them Everything, for “The Book I Had to Write” podcast, which is produced by former public radio host Cherie Newman. A transcript of the conversation is available here.

Martha Anne Toll was interviewed by FF2 Media about her forthcoming novel, Three Muses, to be published in September by Regal House. Preorder a copy here.

Kathleen Rooney interviewed Tomi Obaro about her debut novel, Dele Weds Destiny, for Chicago magazine.

Former NBCC board member Steve Paul interviewed PEN/Hemingway Award winner Torrey Peters (Detransition, Baby) for the annual newsletter of the Ernest Hemingway Society.

W. Scott Olsen interviewed photographer John Dolan for the Frames Magazine podcast series.

Member News

NBCC lifetime member Sue Henderson had a month-long residency at the Vermont Studio Center in April and will teach a fiction workshop at the Community of Writers in Olympic Valley, California, in July.

Randall Mann’s DEAL: New & Selected Poems, representing three decades of poetry, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press in spring 2023.

“Two Deep” photo by NBCC member Abby Frucht. Used with permission.

SEND US YOUR STUFF: To have your work featured in the weekly Critical Notes, please join the NBCC (or renew your membership). Thanks!!