2025 National Book Awards

The 76th National Book Awards (NBA), presented at a ceremony and benefit dinner by the National Book Foundation, took place on November 19, 2025, in New York City. The ceremony included a musical performance by Corinne Bailey Rae, with Jeff Hiller giving the welcoming and closing remarks.^[1]

[1]

Category	Winner^[2]	Shortlist^[3]	Longlist^[4]
Fiction	Rabih Alameddine, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)	Megha Majumdar, A Guardian and a Thief Karen Russell, The Antidote Ethan Rutherford, North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther Bryan Washington, Palaver	Susan Choi, Flashlight Angela Flournoy, The Wilderness Jonas Hassen Khemiri, The Sisters Kevin Moffett, Only Son Joy Williams, The Pelican Child
Nonfiction	Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This	Julia Ioffe, Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy Yiyun Li, Things in Nature Merely Grow Claudia Rowe, Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care Jordan Thomas, When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World	Caleb Gayle, Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State Fatemeh Jamalpour and Nilo Tabrizy, For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprising Lana Lin, The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam Ben Ratliff, Run the Song: Writing About Running About Listening Helen Whybrow, The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life
Poetry	Patricia Smith, The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems	Gabrielle Calvocoressi, The New Economy Cathy Linh Che, Becoming Ghost Tiana Clark, Scorched Earth Richard Siken, I Do Know Some Things	Gbenga Adesina, Death Does Not End at the Sea Rickey Laurentiis, Death of the First Idea Esther Lin, Cold Thief Place Natalie Shapero, Stay Dead Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, Terror Counter
Translated Literature	*Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, We Are Green and Trembling* (translated by Robin Myers)**	Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) (translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell) Anjet Daanje, The Remembered Soldier (translated by David McKay) Hamid Ismailov, We Computers: A Ghazal Novel (translated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega) Neige Sinno, Sad Tiger (translated by Natasha Lehrer)	Jazmina Barrera, The Queen of Swords (translated by Christina MacSweeney) Saou Ichikawa, Hunchback (translated by Polly Barton) Han Kang, We Do Not Part (translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris) Mohamed Kheir, Sleep Phase (translated by Robin Moger) Vincenzo Latronico, Perfection (translated by Sophie Hughes)
Young People's Literature	Daniel Nayeri, The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story	Kyle Lukoff, A World Worth Saving Amber McBride, The Leaving Room Hannah V. Sawyerr, Truth Is Ibi Zoboi, (S)Kin	María Dolores Águila, A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez K. Ancrum, The Corruption of Hollis Brown Derrick Barnes, The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze Mahogany L. Browne, A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe Maria van Lieshout, Song of a Blackbird

2025 National Book Awards

Judges

Fiction

Nonfiction

Poetry

Translated Literature

Young People's Literature

References

External links

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