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The National Book Awards 2025

The winners of the 2025 National Book Award in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature and Young People's Literature were announced on November 19th at the 76th National Book Awards Ceremony.

Two lifetime achievement awards also were presented as part of the evening’s ceremony. Roxane Gay, whose books include the essay collection BAD FEMINIST and the memoir HUNGER, received the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. And George Saunders, who won the 2017 Booker Prize for LINCOLN IN THE BARDO, was recognized with the Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

The National Book Awards 2025

The winners of the 2025 National Book Award in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature and Young People's Literature were announced on November 19th at the 76th National Book Awards Ceremony.

Two lifetime achievement awards also were presented as part of the evening’s ceremony. Roxane Gay, whose books include the essay collection BAD FEMINIST and the memoir HUNGER, received the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. And George Saunders, who won the 2017 Booker Prize for LINCOLN IN THE BARDO, was recognized with the Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction 2026

The American Library Association (ALA) has selected A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF by Megha Majumdar as the winner of the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and THINGS IN NATURE MERELY GROW by Yiyun Li as the winner of the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.

Week of May 18, 2026

Paperback releases for the week of May 18th include THE RIVER IS WAITING by Wally Lamb, which tells the propulsive story of a young father who, after an unbearable tragedy, reckons with the possibility of atonement for the unforgivable; Megan Abbott's EL DORADO DRIVE, a simmering, atmospheric novel of friendship and betrayal that follows a women-led pyramid scheme in suburban Detroit; GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE, a sweeping novel from Emily Henry that finds two writers competing for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve; THINGS IN NATURE MERELY GROW, Yiyun Li’s remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance as she considers the loss of her son, James; and MURDER IN THE DOLLHOUSE  by Rich Cohen, a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Jennifer Dulos and the aftershocks that rattled a wealthy suburb.