New York:
An India-born novelist has been named among the finalists for one of the most prestigious American literary awards for his work about the culture of computer programming and classical Indian aesthetics.
Delhi-born Vikram Chandra, 53, is the finalist in the criticism category for his non-fiction work 'Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty' for the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Awards .
The non-fiction work about the culture of computer programming and classical Indian aesthetics was published in 2013 as 'Mirrored Mind: My Life in Letters and Code' and in 2014 as 'Geek Sublime: Writing Fiction, Coding Software'.
The book has been published in the US as 'Geek Sublime: The Code of Beauty, the Beauty of Code.
Chandra currently teaches creative writing at the University of California, according to the biography on his website.
His other acclaimed works include 'Red Earth and Pouring Rain', published in 1995, which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book and the David Higham Prize for Fiction.
His novel 'Sacred Games' published in 2006 won the Hutch Crossword Award for English Fiction for 2006 and a Salon Book
Award for 2007. It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and was included on numerous "Best of the Year lists, according to his website.
Chandra also co-wrote the Bollywood film 'Mission Kashmir' starring Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, and Jackie Shroff.
The NBCC announced its 30 finalists in six categories - autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, general nonfiction, and poetry-for the best books of 2014.
The awards will be presented on March 12.
Legendary American novelist Toni Morrison, 83 will receive the 'Ivan Sandrof' Lifetime Achievement Award for being a powerful catalyst in reshaping literary culture over the past half century.
American writer Phil Klay's short story collection Redeployment will receive the John Leonard Prize, established in 2014 to recognise outstanding first books in any genre.
Named to honour the memory of founding NBCC member John Leonard, the prize is uniquely decided by a direct vote of the
organisation's 700 members nationwide.
The National Book Critics Circle Awards, founded in 1974 and considered among the most prestigious in American letters,
are the sole prizes bestowed by a jury of working critics and book-review editors.