Percival Everett, Ling Ma among nominees for critics prizes

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Fiction by Percival Everett and Ling Ma, nonfiction by Annie Proulx and biographies of George Balanchine and J. Edgar Hoover are among the finalists for National Book Critics Circle awards. Former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo has won an honorary award for lifetime achievement. Last fall’s National Book Award winner for fiction, Tess Gunty’s “The Rabbit Hutch,” is a nominee for best first book. Other finalists announced Tuesday night include Ed Yong’s “An Immense World” and the poetry collection “Milkweed Smithereens,” by Bernadette Mayer, who died in November at age 77. Winners will be announced March 23 during a ceremony in Manhattan.