Members, would you like to volunteer as a judge for the John Leonard Prize for the best first book in any genre? It’s time to begin reading and discussing the Leonard finalists, so if you’re an NBCC member and you’d like to participate, please fill out this form. Note: if you indicated interest in judging on the book nomination form, you don’t need to do it again. Judges will read and discuss the seven finalists and will vote to determine the winner. They will receive PDF versions of the finalists within a few days, and voting will take place on March 22. This award has a long tradition of robust member involvement: We hope you will join us!
We hope you’ll also join us as a volunteer judge to determine the winner of the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize. If you’re an NBCC member, fill out this form, and you’ll be added to a special thread in Membership Slack, and receive access to PDFs of the six finalists. Final voting will take place in mid-March.
Friends, we hope you’re doing well! Our members have been busy the past week with reviews by authors including John Edgar Wideman, Val McDermid, Thomas Crow, Edy Poppy, S.J. Rozan, and more. Stay warm, and thanks for reading!
Member Reviews/Essays
Patricia Schultheis reviewed Emily Lieb’s Road to Nowhere: How a Highway Map Wrecked Baltimorefor the Washington Independent Review of Books.
NBCC board member Tobias Carroll wrote about Thomas Crow’s Murder in the Rue Marat: A Case of Art in Revolution for The Art Newspaper and about six new novels in translation for Words Without Borders.
In her latest Girl Writing blog entry at the Washington Independent Review of Books, Ellen Prentiss Campbell makes the case that Joe Biden should have a fleet of bookmobiles.
Julia M. Klein reviewed Natalie Davis’ Saying Yes for the Los Angeles Times and John Edgar Wideman’s Languages of Home for The Pennsylvania Gazette.
Charles Green reviewed H. Peter Alesso’s Fallout of War, Ukraine: Year One for Blueink Review.
Clea Simon reviewed Nancy Bernhard’s The Double Standard Sporting House for The ArtsFuse.
Robert Allen Papinchak reviewed The Aquatics, written by Osvalde Lewat and translated from the French by Maren Baudet-Lackner, and Winter: The Story of A Season by Val McDermid for Shelf Awareness.
Britta Stromeyer reviewed Anatomy. Monotony., written by Edy Poppy and translated from the Norwegian by May-Brit Akerholt, for The Common.
Nell Beram reviewed three mysteries for Shelf Awareness: The Day I Lost You by Ruth Mancini; Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by L.M. Chilton; and First Do No Harm by S.J. Rozan.
Member Interviews
Julia M. Klein interviewed Sophia Rosenfeld about her book The Age of Choice for the Pennsylvania Gazette.
Member News
Her Daughter, the third novel (and eighth book) by NBCC lifetime member Fran Hawthorne, has just been published by Black Rose Writing. It’s the story of a family where the father deliberately gaslights the daughter to alienate her from the mother.
Nancy Naomi Carlson’s translation of Gestuary, by French-Senegalese writer Sylvie Kandé, will be published by Seagull Books on Feb. 13.
Former NBCC Treasurer Marion Winik was interviewed about her memoir First Comes Lovefor The Baltimore Banner. Marion also appeared on three podcasts: This Is the Author, Gays Reading, and Family Secrets.
Grace Schulman’s poem “Thebes Revisited” is featured in Pushcart Prize L: Best of the Small Presses. This is her sixth Pushcart Prize for poetry.
“Birchbark Books” by Scott Schumacher is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.