The National Book Critics Circle Awards

Each year, the National Book Critics Circle presents awards for the finest books published in English in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism.

In addition, we award two prizes voted on by membership: the John Leonard Prize for the best first book in any genre and the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize, for the best book of any genre translated into English and published in the United States. We also award the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, which recognizes outstanding work by a member of the NBCC, and the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award and Toni Morrison Achievement Award, which are given respectively to individuals and literary institutions for transformative contributions to book culture.

2000 Winners & Finalists

Fiction Winner

  • Jim Crace, Being Dead (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Fiction Finalists

  • Amy Bloom, A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You (Random House)
  • Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Random House)
  • David Means, Assorted Fire Events: Stories (Context Books)
  • Zadie Smith, White Teeth (Random House)

General Nonfiction Winner

  • Ted Conover, Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (Random House)

General Nonfiction Finalists

  • Fred Anderson, Crucible of War (Knopf)
  • Frances Fitzgerald, Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War (Simon & Schuster)
  • Laurie Garrett, Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health (Hyperion)
  • Alice Kaplan, The Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach (Univ. of Chicago)

Biography/Autobiography Winner

  • Herbert P. Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (HarperCollins)

Biography/Autobiography Finalists

  • Robin Marantz Henig, The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics (Houghton Mifflin)
  • Victor Kemplerer, I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1942-1945 (Random House)
  • David Nasaw, The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst (Houghton Mifflin)
  • Jean-Yves Tadie, Marcel Proust: A Life (Viking)

Poetry Winner

  • Judy Jordan, Carolina Ghost Woods (LSU)

Poetry Finalists

  • Michael Collier, The Ledge (Houghton Mifflin)
  • Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours (Knopf)
  • Yusef Komunyakaa, Talking Dirty to the Gods (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
  • Davis McCombs, Ultima Thule (Yale)

Criticism Winner

  • Cynthia Ozick, Quarrel & Quandary (Knopf)

Criticism Finalists

  • Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to Present (HarperCollins)
  • Claudia Roth Pierpont, Passionate Minds (Knopf)
  • Charles Rosen, Critical Entertainments: Music Old and New (Harvard Univ. Press)
  • Sherod Santos, A Poetry of Two Minds (University of Georgia Press)

Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing Winner

  • Daniel Mendelsohn

Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

  • Barney Rosset