The National Book Foundation has announced the finalists for the 2025 National Book Awards. The winners in each of the five categories—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people's literature—will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 19.
Fiction
- The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine (Grove)
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar (Knopf)
- The Antidote by Karen Russell (Knopf)
- North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford (A Strange Object)
- Palaver by Bryan Washington (FSG)
A total of 434 books were submitted for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction, which will be judged by Rumaan Alam (Chair), Debra Magpie Earling, Attica Locke, Elizabeth McCracken, and Cody Morrison.
Nonfiction
- One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Knopf)
- Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy by Julia Ioffe (Ecco)
- Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li (FSG)
- Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care by Claudia Rowe (Abrams)
- When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas (Riverhead)
A total of 652 books were submitted for the 2025 National Book Award for Nonfiction. The judges are Heather Kathleen Moody Hall, Tiya Miles (Chair), Raj Patel, Cristina Rivera Garza, and Eli Saslow. In the announcement, the National Book Foundation noted that the nonfiction finalists are all first-time honorees.
Poetry
- The New Economy by Gabrielle Calvocoressi (Copper Canyon)
- Becoming Ghost by Cathy Linh Che (Washington Square)
- Scorched Earth by Tiana Clark (Washington Square)
- I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken (Copper Canyon)
- The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems by Patricia Smith (Scribner)
A total of 285 books were submitted for the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry. The judges are Kate Daniels, Terrance Hayes (Chair), H. Melt, Anis Mojgani, and Caridad Moro-Gronlier.
Translated Literature
- On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) by Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell (New Directions)
- We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers (New Directions)
- The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay (New Vessel)
- We Computers: A Ghazal Novel by Hamid Ismailov, translated from the Uzbek by Shelley Fairweather-Vega (Yale)
- Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer (Seven Stories)
A total of 139 books were submitted for the 2025 National Book Award for Translated Literature. The judges are Stesha Brandon (Chair), Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón, Bill Johnston, Annette K. Joseph-Gabriel, and Karen Tei Yamashita.
Young People’s Literature
- A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff (Dial)
- The Leaving Room by Amber McBride (Feiwel & Friends)
- The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri (Levine Querido)
- Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr (Amulet)
- (S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi (Versify)
A total of 325 books were submitted for the 2025 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The judges are Cathy Berner, David Bowles (Chair), candice iloh, Jung Kim, and Maulik Pancholy.
Prior to the 76th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner in New York City, finalists will read from their work at a public event hosted by Michelle Zauner on November 18. The winners in each category will receive $10,000, a bronze medal, and statue, and finalists will receive $1,000 each.
