The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) just handed out its hardware for the best books of last year. If you follow the literary circuit, you know these awards carry a different kind of weight. They aren’t decided by a mysterious committee or a marketing department. They’re voted on by nearly 800 professional book critics and review editors. This year, the winners list felt like a global map of modern storytelling. Arundhati Roy and Han Kang didn't just show up—they dominated the conversation.
It’s about time. Roy has spent decades balancing her life between being a Booker Prize-winning novelist and a fierce political activist. Han Kang already has a Nobel Prize in Literature under her belt. Seeing them both honored by American critics in the same cycle says a lot about where literature is headed. The "Western canon" is widening. Finally.
Arundhati Roy Takes the Lifetime Achievement Award
Arundhati Roy received the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award. This isn't just a "thanks for your service" trophy. It’s a recognition of a career that refused to stay in one lane. Most people know her for The God of Small Things, which took the world by storm in 1997. But Roy didn't just sit back and write more pretty novels. She turned her pen into a weapon.
She spent the last twenty-five years writing about power, displacement, and the environment in India. Her non-fiction is often more controversial than her fiction. She’s been a thorn in the side of the Indian government for years. By giving her this award, the NBCC is acknowledging that a writer’s work doesn't end on the last page of a story. Her 2017 novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, proved she could still weave a complex, heartbreaking narrative after twenty years away from fiction.
Some critics argue that writers should stay out of politics. Roy proves that's impossible. Every choice a writer makes is a political act. Who gets to speak? Who gets ignored? Roy’s career answers those questions by centering the people living on the margins.
Han Kang Adds Another Trophy to the Shelf
Han Kang won the NBCC Award for Fiction for her novel We Do Not Part. This book is a gut punch. It deals with the aftermath of the 1948 Jeju Uprising in South Korea. It’s a ghost story, a history lesson, and a meditation on grief all at once.
If you’ve read The Vegetarian, you know Han Kang doesn't do "easy." She writes about the body and memory in a way that feels visceral. We Do Not Part continues that trend. It follows two women trying to uncover the truth about a family’s past during a brutal period of state violence.
The fact that she won this award shortly after her Nobel win reinforces her status as a generational talent. She isn't just a "Korean writer." She’s a writer who happens to be Korean, exploring universal themes of trauma and how we remember the dead. Her prose—translated with incredible precision by e. yae lee and Paige Aniyah Morris—is sparse but heavy. It stays with you long after you close the book.
The Other Major Winners You Should Be Reading
While Roy and Kang took the headlines, the rest of the winners list was equally stacked. The NBCC covers everything from poetry to biography, and the 2024-2025 winners reflect a massive diversity of thought.
- Nonfiction: A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall won. This is an essential read for anyone trying to understand the human cost of the conflict in the West Bank. It focuses on a single tragic bus accident to explain an entire system of bureaucracy and occupation. It’s devastatingly specific.
- Biography: King: A Life by Jonathan Eig. This was the first major biography of Martin Luther King Jr. in decades to use recently declassified FBI files. It paints a much more human, flawed, and radical picture of the civil rights leader than the version we usually get in school.
- Autobiography: The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen. This book is a haunting look at friendship, brilliance, and the failures of the American mental healthcare system. It’s one of those memoirs that reads like a thriller.
- Poetry: Trace Evidence by Charif Shanahan. His work explores identity, race, and belonging with a lyrical intensity that’s hard to match.
Why These Awards Actually Matter
Awards can feel like a big circle-jerk for the publishing industry. Sometimes they are. But the NBCC Awards are different because they influence what actually stays on bookstore shelves. When a book wins a critics' award, it gets a second life. Librarians order it. Book clubs pick it up. It moves from being a "new release" to being part of the cultural record.
In a year where book bans are hitting record highs in the US, the NBCC chose to honor writers who don't shy away from difficult truths. Whether it’s Roy’s activism or Thrall’s reporting on Palestine, these winners represent a refusal to look away.
Critics have a job to do. They’re the gatekeepers, sure, but they’re also the fans. This year’s list shows they’re looking for books that challenge the reader. They didn't go for the safest bets. They went for the books that hurt a little bit to read because they were so honest.
Your Reading List Just Got Longer
If you haven't kept up with these titles, start with Han Kang. We Do Not Part is a masterclass in atmosphere. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to sit in a quiet room and just think for an hour after you finish a chapter.
Then, dive into Arundhati Roy’s essays. My Seditious Heart collects a lot of her political writing. It’s dense, it’s angry, and it’s incredibly smart. You might not agree with everything she says, but you’ll respect the way she says it.
The National Book Critics Circle got it right this time. They honored the legends and elevated the new voices that are actually changing the way we see the world.
If you want to stay ahead of the literary curve, pick up Jonathan Eig’s biography of MLK next. It’s a thick book, but it’s the definitive account of a man we all think we know, but mostly don't. After that, look into the finalists who didn't win—the shortlists for the NBCC are often just as good as the winners themselves. Go to your local independent bookstore, find the "Award Winners" section, and start with the international titles. That’s where the most exciting work is happening right now.
