Across the five categories, 14 authors and translators have been previously honored by the National Book Foundation.

By Erin L. Cox, Publisher | @erinlcox

While much of the international publishing industry was in Frankfurt last week, the National Book Foundation in the United States announced the 25 finalists for this year’s awards. These finalists are based on 1,912 submissions, which were narrowed down to these finalists by an independent panel of judges.

“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 Board of Directors of the National Book Foundation. “The National Book Awards fuels the Foundation’s year-round work to reach readers of all ages in every corner of the country, connecting readers with books, authors, timely conversations—and one another. This year’s Finalists join a rich 77-year Awards history, and we are honored to celebrate these exceptional books this fall and onwards.”

The finalists are:

Hannah Lillith Assadi, Paradiso 17, Knopf

Edwidge Danticat, Dèy, Knopf

Julián Delgado Lopera, Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You, Liveright

Valeria Luiselli, Beginning Middle End, Knopf

Morgan Thomas, Mad Eden, MCD

Colin Asher, The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music, W.W. Norton

Abdelrahman ElGendy, Huna: A Memoir of Revolution, Prison, and Becoming, Hogarth

Camonghne Felix, Let the Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom, One World

Sara Nović, Mother Tongue, Random House

Joseph Osmundson, Spawning Season: An Experiment in Queer Parenthood, Bloomsbury Publishing

Victoria Chang, Tree of Knowledge, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

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

Karl Ove Knausgaard, The School of Night, Translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken, Penguin Press

Vicente Luis Mora, Centroeuropam, Translated from the Spanish by Rahul Bery, Bellevue Literary Press

Intan Paramaditha, Night of a Thousand Hells, Translated from the Indonesian by Stephen J. 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

Elana K. Arnold, Holloway, Clarion Books

Tae Keller, When Tomorrow Burns, Random House Books for Young Readers

Keala Kendall, That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic, Random House Books for Young Readers

David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels, The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America, Knopf Books for Young Readers

Julian Randall, Shook, Henry Holt and Company (BYR)

“At the National Book Foundation, we’re proud to celebrate reading and create extraordinary experiences around books year-round,” said Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation. “Across the Finalists for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature, readers will be able to dive into stories at once both familiar and new—to learn, to be inspired, and to participate in a vibrant discussion around books. I am deeply grateful to our judges for this gift to readers—and for the reminder of the indispensable power of literature to bring us together.”

Winners of the National Book Awards receive $10,000, a bronze medal, and statue; finalists receive $1,000 and a bronze medal; winners and finalists in the Translated Literature category will split the prize evenly between author and translator.

Two lifetime achievement awards will be presented as part of the evening’s ceremony: Salman Rushdie, novelist, essayist, and public intellectual, will be recognized with the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (DCAL), presented by bestselling author Kiran Desai; and Perri Klass, pediatrician, writer, and longtime National Medical Director of Reach Out and Read, will receive the Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, presented by two-time National Book Award Finalist and past National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds.

Winners will be announced live at the 77^th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, hosted by Kyle MacLachlan and with lead vocalist of Japanese Breakfast and bestselling author of Crying in H Mart Michelle Zauner as the musical guest. The event will be livestreamed for readers everywhere on the Foundation’s website and YouTube.