Ling Ma, Beverly Gage among authors honored by book critics

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Ling Ma’s sharp and surreal “Bliss Montage” and Beverly Gage’s sweeping biography of the late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, “G-Man,” are among the winners of the National Book Critics Circle awards. Other works awarded by the NBCC on Thursday night included Isaac Butler’s “The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act” for nonfiction, Hua Hsu’s “Stay True” for memoir, Cynthia Cruz’s “Hotel Oblivion” for poetry and Timothy Bewes’ “Free Indirect” for criticism. Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov’s “Grey Bees,” translated by Boris Dralyuk, won for best translated book, and Morgan Talty’s “Night of the Living Rez” was named best debut work.