Earlier this week, the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) announced eight critics who will fill three-year slots on the group’s board. The NBCC board now includes: Mark Athitakis, Colette Bancroft, Gregg Barrios, David Biespiel, Stephen Burt, David Haglund, Barbara Hoffert, and Carolyn Kellogg.
In addition, the NBCC will announce the finalists for the critical body’s annual autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction and poetry awards, along with the winners of the Sandrof award for lifetime achievement and the Balakian award for criticism. The event will be celebrated at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe on 126 Crosby Street in NYC at 7 pm EST.
The announcement post also includes statements from the new members, including this from Kellogg, an LA Times’ literary reporter: “A book is a testament to expertise and a gesture toward permanence. The format may vary–traditional books, ebooks, Moby Dick texted to your phone–yet books remain essential. The challenge is noise. Where people once turned to a book section, now they can go online and visit the website of a traditional news outlet, follow Twitter, click a link on Facebook, check into a news aggregator, read a blog, use Digg, etc. The critical voice may be needed more than ever, but we’ve lost our foothold. Where will our work be published, and how will people find it?”