Lagos — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian, has been nominated for the (American) National Book Critics Circle Award, a prestigious American award that honours the best critic-reviewed book of the year.

Adichie is one of five finalists for the fiction category of the 33rd annual Awards announced on January 20 in New York City. She is nominated for her novel, 'Half of a Yellow Sun,' set during the Nigeria-Biafra war and published in Nigeria by Farafina.

Other finalists are Kiran Desai for 'The Inheritance of Loss,' Dave Eggers for 'What is the What,' Richard Ford for the 'The Lay of the Land' and Cormac McCarthy for 'The Road.'

The winner will be announced in March.

Past winners include the British writer Ian McEwan, and the famous American men of letters, John Updike and Philip Roth. The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, is a non-profit organisation consisting of nearly 700 active book reviewers and critics in the United States, who are interested in honouring quality writing.

The centerpiece of NBCC activities is the annual awards for the best book in five categories: fiction, general non-fiction, biography/autobiography, poetry, and criticism.

Each year, a 24 person all volunteer Board of Directors is elected to nominate and judge books for the awards.