Book Critics award for fiction goes to Robinson
Marilynne Robinson won the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction last night for her novel, ''Gilead," and Adrienne Rich took the poetry prize for ''The School Among the Ruins: Poems 2000-2004."
The awards by the national book reviewers' organization, for books published in 2004, were announced in New York.
The nonfiction winner was Diarmaid MacCulloch for ''The Reformation: A History," and in biography, Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan won for ''De Kooning: An American Master." Patrick Neate took the prize in criticism for ''Where You're At: Notes From the
Robinson's novel is told in the voice of a dying elderly minister in rural Iowa, reflecting on God, his life, and his concern for his widow and young son.
The National Book Critics Circle Award is one of the top four national awards, along with the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Robinson is also a finalist for this year's PEN/Faulkner, to be announced in April. Edwidge Danticat, an NBCC finalist for ''The Dew Breaker," is also a PEN/Faulkner finalist.
In addition to Danticat, the other finalists in the five categories were:
In fiction: Alan Hollinghurst for ''The Line of Beauty"; David Mitchell for ''Cloud Atlas"; and Philip Roth for ''The Plot Against America."
In general nonfiction: Kevin Boyle for ''Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age"; Edward Conlon for ''Blue Blood"; David K. Shipler for ''The Working Poor: Invisible in America"; and Timothy B. Tyson for ''Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story."
In biography/autobiography: Ron Chernow for ''Alexander Hamilton"; Bob Dylan for ''Chronicles Vol. 1"; Stephen Greenblatt for ''Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare"; and John Guy for ''Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart."
In poetry: Brigit Pegeen Kelly for ''The Orchard"; D. A. Powell for ''Cocktails"; James Richardson for ''Interglacial: New and Selected Poems and Aphorisms"; and Gary Snyder for ''Danger on Peaks."
In criticism: Richard Howard for ''Paper Trail: Selected Prose 1965-2003"; Graham Robb for ''Strangers: Homosexual Love in the 19th Century"; Craig Seligman for ''Sontag & Kael: Opposites Attract Me"; and James Wood for ''The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel."
The Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award went to Louis D. Rubin Jr., founder of Algonquin Press. The Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing went to freelance reviewer David Orr.
David Mehegan can be reached at mehegan@globe.com.
