Christoph Irmscher

Congrats to all the poetry finalists of @bookcritics.bsky.social! It has been such an honor to serve on this committee!

What a delight to serve on the autobiography committee of @bookcritics.bsky.social! Congrats to all our finalists!

It has been such an honor to serve on the biography committee of @bookcritics.bsky.social. Check out our excellent finalists below!

The finalists for the 2024 John Leonard Prize, given to an outstanding first book in any genre, are By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight For Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle (Harper), Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham (Hogarth), Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius by Carrie Courogen (St. Martin’s), Ward Toward by Cindy Juyoung Ok (Yale University), and When The Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s by John Ganz (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

We're excited to announce the shortlist for the 2024 John Leonard Prize, given to an outstanding first book in any genre! Congratulations to all of the finalists.

Congratulations to Lori Lynn Turner, the winner of the 2024 NBCC Service Award!

Congratulations to @thirdworldpress.bsky.social, the winner of the 2024 Toni Morrison Achievement Award!

We’re excited to announce that in honor of our 50th anniversary, we’ll be joined at the NBCC Awards ceremony by Maxine Hong Kingston!

So happy to have been involved in selecting this fabulous list of finalists! Congrats to all!

The stuff of nightmares: catalogue of Alfred Kubin’s work shines a light on his dark world The macabre artist’s blood-soaked prints and drawings at the start of the 20th century foretold future wars

A timely artist. My review of the Alfred Kubin exhibit at the Albertina in Vienna & the accompanying catalog. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/01/08/t...

I served on the poetry committee of @bookcritics.bsky.social. It was an honor to help select our first-ever poetry longlist for 2024. Congratulations to all these wonderful writers!

Here is our first ever longlist for biography 2024 @bookcritics.bsky.social. Proud to be a member of our biography committee and to help select these wonderful titles. Congrats to the authors!

Check out our autobiography longlist below. I served on the autobiography committee of @bookcritics.bsky.social, and it was a pleasure and an honor to spend the last few months in the company of these amazing writers! Congratulations!

How exciting to be able to share the @bookcritics.bsky.social’s longlist for the 2024 Criticism Award!

Our fiction longlist @bookcritics.bsky.social is out! Check out these amazing titles below!

Redefining Race as Ethnicity | Harvard Magazine The expansive literary scholarship of Werner Sollors

My most recent article in @harvardmagazine.bsky.social: About Werner Sollors's new collection of essays and his decades of work redefining what it means to be "American"--scholarship more important than ever as we're facing another resurgence of nativist rhetoric. www.harvardmagazine.com/node/88621

So proud to serve on the amazing board of @bookcritics.bsky.social and to have been involved in this work!

Intense repartee: a collection of letters that the critic John Berger exchanged with his artist son The correspondence between John and Yves Berger is both moving and enlightening

Art critic John Berger‘s late-in-life correspondence with his son Yves, a painter, is entertaining and moving and full of unexpected comparisons. My review in The Art Newspaper: www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/12/03/i...

This newly translated volume compiles the photographic traces of a libidinous love affair Author Annie Ernaux and journalist Marc Marie’s collaborative memoir documents a passionate yet haunted relationship

My review of Annie Ernaux and Marc Marie’s “The Use of Photography” (@sevenstories.bsky.social), just
out in @TheArtNewspaper. www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/11/26/t...

The Pride Paradox Film critic Pauline Kael, the epitome of New York sophistication, is often misquoted as having said that she didn’t know anyone who had voted for Nixon. Which is pretty funny. What she in fact said wa...

I loved Arlie Hochschild’s new book, “Stolen Pride” (@thenewpress.bsky.social). A very timely book, of course, but also beautifully written. www.counterpunch.org/2024/12/02/t...

Proud to be a member of @bookcritics.bsky.social!

Blue background with white logo and text overlay. Logo reads “50 Years National Book Critics Circle 1974 2024” White text reads “Giving Tuesday: Support the Art of Literary Criticism and Honor Outstanding Literature.”

Our culture needs critical voices, and we need your help. Founded in 1974, the National Book Critics Circle supports the art of literary criticism and honors outstanding literature. Please consider supporting the NBCC’s work with an annual or one-time donation. bookcritics.org/donate
#GivingTuesday

‘Living on Earth’ and ‘Vanishing Treasures’: Getting to Know Our Neighbors Marveling at fish that build, speeding wombats and other wonders of the animal world.

New review in WSJ Books--on Peter Godfrey-Smith's "Living on Earth" and Katherine Rundell's "Vanishing Treasures" and why humans have little to be proud of.

www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

Two publications show how, in Caspar David Friedrich's world, mankind is puny against nature’s power The German artist's work is pored over in two hefty tomes, one a smart overview, the other a comprehensive guide

Celebrating Caspar Savid Friedrich—my review in The Art Newspaper: www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/09/10/t...

‘God’s Scrivener’ Review: The Inspiration of Jones Very A follower of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Very was convinced he was a channel to the divine truths found in nature.

Jones Very's poetry is intense, austere, and just a little bit strange--except when he writes, beautifully, about plants and birds. In Clark Davis' "God's Scrivener" (Chicago), Very finally gets the treatment he deserves. My review in this weekend's WSJ:
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

‘Henry David Thoreau’ Review: The Jester at Walden Pond Describing how his pristine mornings bring ‘back the heroic ages,’ Thoreau is interrupted by a mocking mosquito.

Lots of books have been written about Thoreau. This one will last. My review of Lawrence Buell's "Thoreau" in this weekend's book section of the Wall Street Journal. tinyurl.com/mskyktyj