The American Booksellers Association announced on Wednesday the winners of the 2026 Indies Choice Book Awards. Books were nominated and then selected for this award by more than 3,000 indie booksellers around the U.S.
The Indies Choice Book Awards recipients, the ABA stated in a release “celebrate the best and brightest titles by authors and illustrators, showcasing the remarkable range of talent indie booksellers champion and share with readers every day.” Nominees were selected from among the 2025 releases included on the ABA’s Indies Next, Kids Indies Next, and Indies Introduce Lists.
Launched in 1991 as the ABBY Awards, the ABA's award program coincided with Book Expo, but was shut down in 2020, when Reed Expo canceled the annual booksellers' convention for good. The ABA announced in January that it was resurrecting the award.
The winners of the 2026 Indies Choice Book Awards are as follows:
Adult fiction: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown).
Adult nonfiction: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad ( Knopf).
Children’s Picture Book: Don’t Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson and illustrated by Dan Santat (Dial Books).
Middle Grade: The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner (Bloomsbury Children’s Books).
Young Adult: They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran (Bloomsbury YA).
Debut/Adult: Black-Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore by Char Adams (Tiny Reparations Books).
Debut/Children’s: Whale Eyes by James Robinson, illustrated by Brian Rea (Penguin Workshop).
In a release, Allison Hill, ABA’s CEO stated, “ABA is thrilled to honor the 2026 Indies Choice Book Award winners. These incredible books entertained, challenged, celebrated, and stirred us last year, and they inspired the work of independent booksellers, putting books they love into readers’ hands. ABA congratulates all of the authors and illustrators and thanks the independent booksellers who participated in nominations throughout the year.”
Each winning title’s author, illustrator, and author/illustrator pair will receive $2,000.
