Didion, Doctorow vie for book critics award

the National Book Critics Circle has Announced This Years nominees for the National Book Critics Circle awards. John Updike, Joan Didion, William T. Vollmann and Orhan Pamuk were amoung the finalists. The awards are announced March 3; there are no cash prizes.

Two honorary awards were announced. Bill Henderson, founder of the Pushcart Press, will receive a lifetime achievement prize. Wyatt Mason, whose essays have appeared in Harper’s, The New Yorker and elsewhere, has been cited for reviewing.

The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, has about 500 members.