National Book Foundation Names 25 Finalists for the 2026 National Book Awards

Which books are still in the running for the 2026 National Book Awards? Twenty-five of them. On October 6, 2026, the National Book Foundation named its Finalists, five books in each of five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People's Literature. The Foundation said the list was announced with The New York Times, and that each category's judging panel picked its five Finalists from the Longlists of ten announced in September with The New Yorker.

Winners will be announced live at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner on Wednesday, November 18, 2026.

The 2026 Finalists

Fiction

• Hannah Lillith Assadi, Paradiso 17 (Knopf / Penguin Random House)
• Edwidge Danticat, Dèy (Knopf / Penguin Random House)
• Julián Delgado Lopera, Pretend You're Dead and I Carry You (Liveright / W. W. Norton & Company)
• Valeria Luiselli, Beginning Middle End (Knopf / Penguin Random House)
• Morgan Thomas, Mad Eden (MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers), a debut novel

Nonfiction

• Colin Asher, The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music (W. W. Norton & Company)
• Abdelrahman ElGendy, Huna: A Memoir of Revolution, Prison, and Becoming (Hogarth / Penguin Random House)
• Camonghne Felix, Let the Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom (One World / Penguin Random House)
• Sara Nović, Mother Tongue (Random House / Penguin Random House)
• Joseph Osmundson, Spawning Season: An Experiment in Queer Parenthood (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Poetry

• Victoria Chang, Tree of Knowledge (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers)
• Carolina Ebeid, Hide (Graywolf Press)
• Brenda Hillman, Still House in the Desert: An eco-contemplation (Wesleyan University Press)
• Fady Joudah, Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza (Milkweed Editions)
• Susan Stewart, Bramble (University of Chicago Press)

Translated Literature

• Karl Ove Knausgaard, The School of Night, translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken (Penguin Press / Penguin Random House)
• Vicente Luis Mora, Centroeuropa, translated from the Spanish by Rahul Bery (Bellevue Literary Press)
• Intan Paramaditha, Night of a Thousand Hells, translated from the Indonesian by Stephen Epstein and Tiffany Tsao (Europa Editions)
• Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Pure Men, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Other Press)
• Samar Yazbek, Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life: Voices of Survival and Witness in Gaza, translated from the Arabic by Leri Price (Other Press)

Young People's Literature

• Elana K. Arnold, Holloway (Clarion Books / HarperCollins Publishers)
• Tae Keller, When Tomorrow Burns (Random House Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House)
• Keala Kendall, That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic (Random House Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House)
• David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels, The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America (Knopf Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House)
• Julian Randall, Shook (Henry Holt and Company (BYR) / Macmillan Publishers)

By the numbers

The Foundation says publishers submitted 1,912 books this year: 451 in Fiction, 727 in Nonfiction, 285 in Poetry, 159 in Translated Literature, and 290 in Young People's Literature. Its guidelines page puts the 2025 total at 1,835. "We are grateful to the 25 judges that collectively read nearly 2,000 books published this year in order to elevate our 2026 Finalists," said David Steinberger, Chair of the Foundation's Board of Directors.

According to the announcement, 14 of this year's authors and translators have been honored by the Foundation before. Danticat, for one, was a Fiction Finalist in 1995 for Krik? Krak! and a Nonfiction Finalist in 2007 for Brother, I'm Dying. The Foundation also says seven independent publishers and two university presses are represented. By PT's count of the list, Penguin Random House imprints published 10 of the 25 Finalists.

What the Finalists win, and what comes next

Winners receive $10,000, a bronze medal, and a statue. Finalists receive $1,000 and a bronze medal. In Translated Literature, the prize is split evenly between author and translator.

The Finalists will read from their work at the Finalist Reading on the evening of Tuesday, November 17, at NYU Skirball, hosted by Traci Thomas of the podcast The Stacks. That morning, the Young People's Literature Finalists will appear at Teens Read the 2026 National Book Awards at Symphony Space, hosted by Maulik Pancholy. The November 18 ceremony will be livestreamed on the Foundation's website and YouTube. There, Salman Rushdie will receive the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, presented by Kiran Desai, and Perri Klass will receive the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, presented by Jason Reynolds.

Why it matters for authors

Only publishers can enter, and it costs money. The Foundation's guidelines say an author cannot submit their own book; the publisher must. Each entry costs $135 and is non-refundable, even if the book is ruled ineligible. If a book becomes a Finalist, the publisher also agrees to put money toward a promotional campaign: $3,000 for presses with income of $10 million or more, $750 for those under $10 million, and nothing for presses under $1 million.

KDP books are not eligible. The guidelines exclude books published through self-publishing platforms or publishing services, and they name Kindle Direct Publishing. A self-published book can qualify only if the author-publisher also publishes other authors and does not use a publishing service, and the Foundation may ask to see the catalog. Books must also come from a U.S. publisher, and for every category except Translated Literature, the author must be a U.S. citizen or have a primary, long-term home in the United States, its territories, or Tribal lands.

Know the calendar. For the 2026 Awards, books had to be published between December 1, 2025, and November 30, 2026. Entries ran from March 25 to May 13, and copies were due by June 5. If you run a small press that publishes more than one author, those dates show how early in the year a fall book has to be entered.

Not every Finalist comes from a big house. Graywolf Press, Milkweed Editions, Bellevue Literary Press, Europa Editions, and Other Press have books on this year's list, as do Wesleyan University Press and the University of Chicago Press. The Foundation counts seven independent publishers and two university presses in all.

Sources

• National Book Foundation: 2026 National Book Award Finalists Announced (October 6, 2026)
• National Book Foundation: Deadlines & Guidelines (2026 National Book Awards)