National Book Award sculptures. Image: National Book Foundation, Beowulf Sheehan
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Shortlistees Chosen From 1,835 Books
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In total, 1,835 books were submitted to the 2025 juries:
- 652 titles in nonfiction;
- 434 titles fiction;
- 325 titles young people’s literature;
- 285 titles poetry; and
- 139 titles translated literature
Each winner of the National Book Award receives a cash award of US$10,000, a bronze medal, and a sculpture. Finalists receive US1,000 and a bronze medal. Winners and finalists in the award for translated literature split the prize evenly between authors and translator.
In those five categories, we learn, nine writers have previously had attention from the National Book Foundation, which produces these awards under the direction of chair David Steinberger and executive director Ruth Dickey.
2025 Finalists in Fiction
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| Rabih Alameddine | The True, True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) | Grove Atlantic / Grove Press |
| Megha Majumdar | A Guardian and a Thief | Penguin Random House / Knopf |
| Karen Russell | The Antidote | Penguin Random House / Knopf |
| Ethan Rutherford | North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther | Deep Vellum / A Strange Object |
| Bryan Washington | Palaver | Macmillan / Farrar, Straus, Giroux |
2025 Finalists in Nonfiction
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| Omar El Akkad | One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This | Penguin Random House / Knopf |
| Julia Ioffe | Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy | HarperCollins / Ecco |
| Yiyun Li | Things in Nature Merely Grow | Macmillan / Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |
| Claudia Rowe | Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care | Abrams / Abrams Press |
| Jordan Thomas | When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World | Penguin Random House / Riverhead Books |
2025 Finalists in Poetry
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| Gabrielle Calvocoressi | The New Economy | Copper Canyon Press |
| Cathy Linh Che | Becoming Ghost | Simon & Schuster / Washington Square Press |
| Tiana Clark | Scorched Earth | Simon & Schuster / Washington Square Press |
| Richard Siken | I Do Know Some Things | Copper Canyon Press |
| Patricia Smith | The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems | Simon & Schuster / Scribner |
2025 Finalists in Young People’s Literature
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| Kyle Lukoff | A World Worth Saving | Penguin Random House / Dial Books for Young Readers |
| Amber McBride | The Leaving Room | Macmillan / Feiwel and Friends |
| Daniel Nayeri | The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story | Levine Querido |
| Hannah V. Sawyerr | Truth Is | Abrams / Amulet Books |
| Ibi Zoboi | (S)Kin | HarperCollins / Versify |
2025 Finalists in Translated Literature
| Author | Title | Original Language | Translator(s) | Publisher / Imprint |
| Solvej Balle | On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) | Danish | Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell | New Directions Publishing |
| Gabriela Cabezón Cámara | We Are Green and Trembling | Spanish | Robin Myers | New Directions Publishing |
| Anjet Daanje | The Remembered Soldier | Dutch | David McKay | New Vessel Press |
| Hamid Ismailov | We Computers: A Ghazal Novel | Uzbek | Shelley Fairweather-Vega | Yale University Press |
| Neige Sinno | Sad Tiger | French | Natasha Lehrer | Seven Stories Press |
Jurors’ decisions are made independently of the National Book Foundation staff and board of directors, and deliberations are strictly confidential.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the National Book Awards in the United States is here and more on the huge field of international book awards and prizes is here. More from us on translation and translators is here, more on international publishing rights is here, and more on the United States’ market is here.
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