A week ago National Book Critics Circle announced its 2021 nominees in multiple categories (see link below). For the second year in a row I am a judge of the John Leonard Prize for a first book, and I have known which titles are finalists for that prize for several weeks but was not at liberty to share that information until a week ago. Last year there were seven finalists of which I had already read all five fiction titles and knew which of those I thought was superior to the others (reading the non-fiction titles did not change my estimation), and in the end my fellow judges agreed and awarded the 2020 Leonard Prize to Luster by Raven Leilani.
The 2021 John Leonard Prize finalists are
Ashley C. Ford, Somebody’s Daughter (Flatiron Books)
Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, My Monticello (Henry Holt)
Torrey Peters, Detransition, Baby (One World)
Larissa Pham, Pop Song (Catapult)
Anthony Veasna So, Afterparties (Ecco)
Devon Walker-Figueroa, Philomath (Milkweed Editions)
and it will be a far more difficult decision. Going in I had read two of the six titles, and now that I have read five and am reading the sixth, I find that I will have to reread some of them to decide which will get my vote. So for now I recommend adding all six to your TBR lists. Of the finalists in the other categories the only one I've read is Second Place by Rachel Cusk, which I also recommend.
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