NEW YORK — The National Book Critics Circle on Monday announced its 30 finalists in six categories –– autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry – for the best books of 2013.
Ruth Ozeki is a finalist in the fiction category for “A Tale for the Time Being” (Viking) along with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for “Americanah” (Knopf), Alice McDermott for “Someone” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), Javier Marias for “The Infatuations” (Knopf), and Donna Tartt for “The Goldfinch” (Little, Brown).
Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest. “A Tale for the Time Being,” her most recent book, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and will be published in over 30 countries.
Her first two novels, “My Year of Meats” (1998) and “All Over Creation” (2003), have been translated into 11 languages and published in 14 countries.
Ozeki’s documentary and dramatic independent films, including “Halving the Bones,” have been shown on PBS, at the Sundance Film Festival, and at colleges and universities across the country.
A resident of British Columbia and New York City, she is affiliated with the Brooklyn Zen Center and the Everyday Zen Foundation. Visit her website at www.ruthozeki.com.
The National Book Critics Circle Awards, founded in 1974 at the Algonquin Hotel and considered among the most prestigious in American letters, are the sole prizes bestowed by a jury of working critics and book-review editors. The awards will be presented on March 13 at the New School in New York City during a ceremony that is free and open to the public.
For more information on the awards, visit http://bookcritics.org/. The author’s website is www.ruthozeki.com.