Nearly two weeks ago (yeah, I’m slack) the National Book Critics Circle Announced its 2017 winners.  The winner of the fiction prize was Joan Silber’s magnificent novel, Improvement (click on the link to check out my review).  It beat out some fierce competition, including Sing, Unburied, Sing which, prior to this, had been taking home all the awards.

Congratulations to Joan Silber.  Also, a hearty congratulations to Carmen Maria Machado whose Her Body and Other Parties, a truly sublime collection, won the John Leonard Prize which is handed out to the best first book in any genre.