National Book Critics Circle winners unveiled in New York

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fictional tale of an overweight, lovesick Dominican nerd and a history of medical experiments on black Americans were among the winners of the National Book Critics Circle awards announced on Thursday.

"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz took the fiction award and "Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present" by Harriet Washington won for non-fiction.

The five awards -- chosen from books published in the United States in the past year -- are voted by the 24-member board of the U.S. non-profit organization, founded in 1974, which is now made up of nearly 700 active book reviewers.

"Brother, I'm Dying" by Edwidge Danticat won the autobiography category, "Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer" by Tim Jeal received the biography award, "Elegy" by Mary Jo Bang was honored in the poetry category and "The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century" by Alex Ross won the criticism award.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols)