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Party Photos: The 2004 National Book Critics Circle Award Nominations Ceremony

At Housing Works Used Book Cafe, January 22, 2005

Posted January 28, 2005

The natural habitat of writers may be cozy dens, but last weekend's first-ever National Book Critics Circle Award Nominations Ceremony drew writers and editors alike into the blizzardy night and towards Soho's Housing Works Used Book Cafe.

While reporters from Publishers Weekly, the New York Observer, and New York magazine criss-crossed the room holding pens and notepads, other guests carried plastic cups of wine while checking out the late arrivals. A debut writer with a fall release date introduced himself to the editor of PW's "Forthcoming Titles" section. Nathalie Chicha, editor of mb's own book-industry weblog GalleyCat.com (and the evening's co-host), chatted with 1983 NBCC winner Joyce Johnson, who later introduced the Autobiography/Biography category's nominees.

Another 1999 NBCC winner, Jonathan Lethem, introduced the fiction nominees, which—in a move likely to please the many critics of the National Book Awards—included Philip Roth's much-touted The Plot Against America, as well as Marilynne Robinson's Gilead. But the crowd favorite, judging by applause, was Bob Dylan's Chronicles Vol. 1, nominated for best Biography/Autobiography and up against that other New York Times bestseller, Stephen Greenblatt's Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare.

The winners will be announced March 18, in New York City.

Photographs by Christian Woods.

Click on a photo for a larger view.

Reed Business editor-in-chief Adriana Lopez with NBCC president Rebecca Miller.	Mediabistro.com founder and co-host Laurel Touby with NPR's Jessica Siegel.
National Book Critics Circle vice president Rebecca Skloot, San Francisco Chronicle's David Kipen, and Chicago Tribune's Elizabeth Taylor.	National Book Critics Circle members Laura Gilbert and John Fludas.
Art advisor Brian Cummings and Richard Nash.	Crown editor Caroline Sincerbeaux, author Davide Prete, NBCC vice president Rebecca Skloot, and Lewis King.
W.W. Norton senior publicist Erin Sinesky and Edward Lovett.	Brooke Parkhurst and Random House's Amanda Close.
Watkins/Loomis Agency's Katherine Fausset and Random House's Amanda Close.	Freelancer Samantha Edussuriya, Alfred A. Knopf deputy director of publicity Kathryn Zuckerman, and writer John Figueroa.
New York Observer senior book reviewer Daniel Rose with mb's Laurel Touby.	Picador publicist James Meader, Bookforum magazine's Nicole Lanctot, Picador UK's Adelaide Dox, and New York Observer's Michael Calderone.
Random House's Lindsey Moore and Kimberly Krol with publicist Ethan Rutherford.	New York Observer's Michael Calderone, GalleyCat.com editor and co-host Nathalie Chicha, journalist Sam Schechner, and Bookforum's Nicole Lanctot.