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Finalists Announced for the 2025 U.S. National Book Awards

The National Book Foundation has revealed the 25 finalists for the 2025 National Book Awards, spanning five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature.

The winners will be unveiled on November 19 during the 76th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner in New York City. Finalists receive $1,000, while winners take home $10,000 plus a bronze medal.

Fiction Finalists

• 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

Nonfiction Finalists

• 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

Poetry Finalists

• Gabrielle Calvocoressi — The New Economy
• Cathy Linh Che — Becoming Ghost
• Tiana Clark — Scorched Earth
• Richard Siken — I Do Know Some Things
• Patricia Smith — The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems

Translated Literature Finalists

• Solvej Balle — On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) (Danish)
• Gabriela Cabezón Cámara — We Are Green and Trembling (Spanish)
• Anjet Daanje — The Remembered Soldier (Dutch)
• Hamid Ismailov — We Computers: A Ghazal Novel (Uzbek)
• Neige Sinno — Sad Tiger (French)

Young People’s Literature Finalists

• Kyle Lukoff — A World Worth Saving
• Amber McBride — The Leaving Room
• Daniel Nayeri — The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story
• Hannah V. Sawyerr — Truth Is
• Ibi Zoboi — (S)Kin

These finalists showcase the diversity and creative strength of today’s literary landscape. From global translations to deeply personal poetry, the 2025 National Book Awards reflect stories that challenge, inspire, and illuminate the human experience.