National Book Critics Circle

National Book Critics Circle

@bookcritics.bsky.social

Honoring outstanding writing and fostering a national conversation about reading, criticism, and literature since 1974. bookcritics.org

3,609 Followers 34 Following 1,766 Posts Joined Nov 2024
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The Watchlist: February 2026 - Words Without Borders Tobias Carroll reads more books in translation than anyone we know. This month, he recommends six exciting new titles from around the world.

NBCC board member Tobias Carroll wrote about some books in translation for Words Without Borders:

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Pasadena’s Historic Japantown Brought to Life in New Hirahara Mystery | BookTrib. True confessions, this reviewer is a super fan of Naomi Hirahara, the brilliant, always relevant author of complex mysteries as well as nonfiction, beginning with Summer of the Big Bachi (2004), the first...

NBCC member Linda Hitchcock reviewed Naomi Hirahara’s "Crown City" for BookTrib:

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Scrapbook of a Rio Neighborhood | Francisco Maciel’s There’s No Point in Dying By Cory Oldweiler

For Southwest Review, NBCC member Cory Oldweiler wrote about Francisco Maciel’s "There’s No Point in Dying," translated from the Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato:

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The Year of the Wind by Karina Pacheco Medrano Trans. Mara Faye Lethem. Graywolf Press. 2025. 240 pages.

NBCC member Krista Timeus Cerezo reviewed "The Year of the Wind," written by Karina Pacheco Medrano and translated from the Spanish by Mara Faye Lethem, for World Literature Today:

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NBCC member Randy Cepuch reviewed Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's latest novel, "Lake Effect," for the Washington Independent Review of Books:

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Oprah picks Tayari Jones again, crowning a novel born from ‘word doodling’ Author Tayari Jones opens up about the "thyroid storm" and the writer’s block that nearly derailed her follow-up to her global bestseller.

NBCC member Leigh Haber wrote a profile of Tayari Jones for the Los Angeles Times:

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Contact - Viva la Book Review Contact us if:*You are a book reviewer who wants help placing paid reviews*You are a local news media editor who […]

Veteran critic Bill Marx continues his workshop series with the literary review nonprofit Viva la Book Review. His next session, “Writing Positive Reviews,” takes place in mid-March. Vote for the workshop date and register at

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Stories of First Steps - The Gay & Lesbian Review Sign Up for The Gay & Lesbian Review’s Newsletter!

NBCC member Lori O’Dea reviewed "Daddy Issues," a story collection by Eric C. Wat, for The Gay & Lesbian Review:

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Anti-Fascist Writers, Fascist Family Legacies: Reading Nicholas Mosley in 2026 There’s a long tradition of artists and activists using their platforms to take issue with the reactionary politics of their parents. We’ve seen that this year with Vivian Wilson vocally pushing ba…

NBCC board member Tobias Carroll wrote about Nicholas Mosley reckoning with his father's legacy for Literary Hub:

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Review of Bob Dylan Outside the Law: The Poetics of John Wesley Harding Robert Reginio. Bob Dylan Outside the Law: The Poetics of John Wesley Harding, Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, 281 pp. Review by Nicholas Birns, New York University   Robert Reginio offers a reading…

NBCC member Nicholas Birns reviewed Robert Reginio's "Bob Dylan Outside The Law: The Poetics of John Wesley Harding" for The Dylan Review:

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Peter Attia May Be the Most Sensible Longevity Influencer. But Is His Advice Any Good? Yikes!

For Slate, NBCC member Kristen Martin wrote a substantive critique of disgraced longevity influencer Peter Attia's mega-bestseller "Outlive":

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The Little Magazine That Defied American Censorship Margaret Anderson’s “Little Review” fought to bring the great works of modernist literature to the United States.

NBCC member Stephanie Gorton reviewed "A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls" by Adam Morgan for The New Republic:

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Ode to Flamboyance - The Gay & Lesbian Review Sign Up for The Gay & Lesbian Review’s Newsletter!

NBCC member Charles Green reviewed Steven Reigns' "Outliving Michael" for The Gay & Lesbian Review:

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Edelweiss, Edelweiss How I pick forthcoming books to review

NBCC member Nicole Schrag wrote about the messy process of picking forthcoming books to review for her Substack newsletter, For Love or Money:

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Christina Kovac on Turning Years of Local Crime Reporting Into Fiction For Watch Us Fall, the Maryland author traces her inspiration back to the 2001 disappearance of congressional intern Chandra Levy.

NBCC member Costa Beavin Pappas wrote a profile of Christina Kovac, author of "Watch Us Fall," for the Washington City Paper:

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Unrestrained: An Interview with Anthony Bukoski - Hypertext Magazine By Marie Zhuikov I met Anthony Bukoski about ten years ago when he was keynote speaker for a gathering of the Lake Superior Writers organization that serves northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Although...

Minnesota writer Marie Zhuikov's interview with NBCC lifetime member Anthony Bukoski appeared in Hypertext magazine. Bukoski discussed his short story collection "The Thief of Words," recently published by the University of Wisconsin Press:

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This Year: 365 Songs Annotated: A Book of Days by John Darnielle MCD Review by George Yatchisin If the claim “songs are poetry” drives you batty, John Darnielle’s This Year: 365 Songs Annotated: A Book of Days will give you fits. Darnielle fruitfully teases the…

NBCC member George Yatchisin reviewed John Darnielle's "This Year: 365 Songs Annotated: A Book of Days" for the California Review of Books:

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An Island, a Killer, and a Voice: On Cullen Bunn’s Bones of Our Stars, Blood of Our World - Reactor Cullen Bunn's horror novel pulls a stylistic U-turn.

NBCC board member Tobias Carroll reviewed Cullen Bunn's "Bones of Our Stars, Blood of Our World" for Reactor:

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Poets on the Plains To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,One clover, and a bee.And revery.The revery alone will do,If bees are few.– Emily Dickinson_____________________________________________________________________Well,...

NBCC member Allison Adelle Hedge Coke curated five episodes of Poets on the Plains for NPR’s affiliate on the High Plains, HPPR:

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On the 2025 Booker Prize Ryan Chapman

NBCC member Ryan Chapman wrote about the finalists for the 2025 Booker Prize for The Sewanee Review:

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NBCC member Ellen Prentiss Campbell wrote about the 3 R's of reading, writing, and reviewing for the Washington Independent Review of Books:

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The Gorey Century - The Gay & Lesbian Review A bimonthly magazine of history, culture, and politics.

For The Gay & Lesbian Review, NBCC member Michael Quinn reviewed "E Is for Edward," Gregory Hischak’s centennial celebration of artist Edward Gorey:

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Turns Out, When You Write a Novel About Killing a Politician, People Tell You How They'd Do It As author Rebecca Novack told Jezebel, she’s learned firsthand, while bringing Murder Bimbo to market, that plenty of people these days indulge in fantasies of assassination.

NBCC member Morgan Leigh Davies interviewed Rebecca Novack about her novel "Murder Bimbo" for Jezebel:

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Evelyn Iritani’s 'Safe Passage,' a Secret History of World War II Evelyn Iritani’s ‘Safe Passage’ shares an untold story.

NBCC member Eric Olson profiled Evelyn Iritani and her new book," Safe Passage," about a Japan-America prisoner swap during World War II, for Seattle Met magazine:

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Under Review: The Unravelling of Ou by Hollay Ghadery - The New Quarterly Author and academic Allison Snelgrove reviews Hollay Ghadery's latest novel, "The Unravelling of Ou". Read now!

NBCC member Hollay Ghadery’s fourth book and debut novel, "The Unravelling of Ou," was recently reviewed in The New Quarterly by Allison Snelgrove:

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“In Search of Lost Monsters”: Adam M. Rosen Reads Chelsea Sutton’s Novella Krackle’s Last Movie Being a documentary filmmaker is a bit like trying to play God. They must embark on an agonizing process of creation, sifting endlessly through old interviews, letters, journals, and other raw arch…

NBCC member Adam M. Rosen reviewed Chelsea Sutton’s "Krackle's Last Movie" for Heavy Feather Review:

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A Very Particular Nightmare: On Aoife Josie Clements’s “Persona” The more horror I read, the more I’m convinced of an inalienable truth: for a horror story to work, it has to reflect something that terrifies the author. That might be something as simple as an ev…

NBCC board member Tobias Carroll reviewed Aoife Josephine Clements' Persona for Vol. 1 Brooklyn:

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The Indigenous leader using AI to protect endangered languages Michael Running Wolf co-created a program to empower Indigenous communities to learn and preserve their languages

NBCC member Costa Beavin Pappas wrote about how Indigenous communities are utilizing AI for language preservation for PRISM:

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Between the Plagues - The Gay & Lesbian Review A bimonthly magazine of history, culture, and politics.

NBCC member Anne Charles reviewed "Terry Dactyl" by Matilda Bernstein Sycamore for The Gay & Lesbian Review:

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The Borderlands’ Lost Third Country Mexican writer Álvaro Enrigue’s new novel, Now I Surrender, is an epic about the U.S. and Mexico’s joint erasure of Apachería.

NBCC member Caroline Tracey reviewed Álvaro Enrigue's "Now I Surrender" for The Border Chronicle:

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