Indie publishers and unexpected winners grabbed the limelight at the National Book Critics Circle awards March 8. The evening was kicked off by NBCC president John Freeman, who noted the importance of literary criticism but warned that some of the country's most significant book review sections have "been put on the Atkins diet." Among the night's surprises were Kiran Desai, the Fiction winner for The Inheritance of Loss, beating out category favorite Dave Eggers.