Han Kang and Arundhati Roy Among 2024 National Book Critics Circle Winners
The National Book Critics Circle has announced its 2024 award winners, recognising outstanding works across fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Among the honoured authors is Han Kang, whose novel We Do Not Part took the Fiction prize—just months after she received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Other winners include Karen Hao for her examination of OpenAI, Arundhati Roy for her memoir, and Frances FitzGerald for her lifetime contribution to literature.
Han Kang's We Do Not Part explores the 1948–1949 uprising on Jeju Island, a dark chapter in South Korean history. The novel, translated by e.yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, secured the Fiction award. Earlier this year, Kang became the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, with the ceremony held in Stockholm.
Karen Hao's *Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI* claimed the Nonfiction prize. The book examines the rise of artificial intelligence and the controversies surrounding OpenAI. Meanwhile, Arundhati Roy's *Mother Mary Comes to Me* won in the Autobiography category, offering a deeply personal memoir. In other categories, Neige Sinno's *Sad Tiger*—translated by Natasha Lehrer—received the Translation Prize. Alex Green's *A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America's Disabled* took the Biography award, while Kevin Young's *Night Watch* won for Poetry. NPR and PBS jointly earned the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. The National Book Critics Circle also presented its lifetime achievement award to Frances FitzGerald, recognising her decades-long impact on literary criticism and historical writing.
The awards highlight a diverse range of voices, from investigative nonfiction to personal memoir and translated literature. Han Kang's double recognition—both the Nobel and the Critics Circle prize—marks a historic moment for South Korean literature. The winning books will now reach wider audiences, with several already gaining international attention.
