Diaz, Danticat earn book awards

Junot Diaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” was named the year’s best work of fiction, and Edwidge Danticat’s memoir “Brother, I’m Dying” won as best nonfiction work in a poll of more than 100 authors and critics conducted by the National Book Critics Circle.

Among the writers who participated were John Updike, Anne Tyler, Walter Isaacson, Jane Smiley, Cynthia Ozick, Jonathan Lethem and Sue Miller.

Three works tied in the poetry category: Robert Hass’ “Time and Materials,” the late Zbigniew Herbert’s “Collected Poems” and Robert Pinsky’s “Gulf Music.”