Every year, the National Book Foundation awards National Book Awards in the genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young people's literature, and translated literature. This year's five finalists in each category were announced in October and the winners will be announced on Wednesday, November 17. Nearly 2,000 books were nominated by publishers for the prestigious prizes. Learn more about the awards here.
Read our interview with 2021 National Book Award fiction judge Margaret Wilkerson Sexton from our blog archives.
If you haven't already found your favorite book of the year, there's still time. Check out one of the finalists for a phenomenal read!
Fiction:
Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land Book eBook
Lauren Groff, Matrix Book eBook
Robert Jones, Jr., The Prophets Book eBook
Jason Mott, Hell of a Book Book
Nonfiction:
Hanif Abdurraqib, A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance Book eBook
Lucas Bessire, Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains
Grace M. Cho, Tastes Like War: A Memoir Book
Nicole Eustace, Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America Book
Tiya Miles, All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake Book
Poetry
Desiree C. Bailey, What Noise Against the Cane Book
Martín Espada, Floaters Book
Douglas Kearney, Sho Book
Hoa Nguyen, A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure Book
Jackie Wang, The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us from the Void Book
Translated Literature
Elisa Shua Dusapin, Winter in Sokcho
Translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins Book
Ge Fei, Peach Blossom Paradise
Translated from the Chinese by Canaan Morse Book
Nona Fernández, The Twilight Zone
Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer Book
Benjamín Labatut, When We Cease to Understand the World
Translated from the Spanish by Adrian Nathan West Book eBook
Samar Yazbek, Planet of Clay
Translated from the Arabic by Leri Price
Young People’s Literature
Shing Yin Khor, The Legend of Auntie Po Book eBook
Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club Book eBook
Kyle Lukoff, Too Bright to See Book eBook
Kekla Magoon, Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People (Coming soon to QPL)
Amber McBride, Me (Moth) Book