‘The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois’ wins book critics award

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” her epic novel about racism, resilience and identity named for the influential Black scholar and activist, has received the fiction prize from the National Book Critics Circle. The critics circle praised Jeffers for “weaving several centuries’ worth of ‘songs’ from the ancestors into her narrative of the coming of age and young adulthood of a brilliant Atlanta scholar.” In the nonfiction category, the award was given to Clint Smith’s “How the Word Is Passed.” Rebecca Donner’s “All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days” won for biography,