The race to the National Book Awards is getting narrower.
Twenty-five finalists, announced Oct. 7, will vie for the prize in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature and young people's literature. Winners of the prestigious literary prize take home $10,000, a bronze medal and a statue. The ceremony will livestream from New York City on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
In addition to the five prizes, the National Book Foundation will honor Perri Klass with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. Salman Rushdie will receive a lifetime achievement award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
National Book Award for fiction finalists
- "Paradiso 17" by Hannah Lillith Assadi
- "Dèy" by Edwidge Danticat
- "Pretend You're Dead and I Carry You" by Julián Delgado Lopera
- "Beginning Middle End" by Valeria Luiselli
- "Mad Eden" by Morgan Thomas
National Book Award for nonfiction finalists
- “The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music” by Colin Asher
- “Huna: A Memoir of Revolution, Prison, and Becoming” by Abdelrahman ElGendy
- “Let the Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom” by Camonghne Felix
- “Mother Tongue” by Sara Nović
- “Spawning Season: An Experiment in Queer Parenting” by Joseph Osmundson
National Book Award for poetry finalists
- “Tree of Knowledge” by Victoria Chang
- “Hide” by Carolina Ebeid
- “Still House in the Desert: An eco-contemplation” by Brenda Hillman
- “Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza” by Fady Joudah
- “Bramble” by Susan Stewart
National Book Award for translated literature finalists
- “The School of Night” by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated from Norwegian by Martin Aitken
- “Centroeuropa” by Vicente Luis Mora, translated from Spanish by Rahul Bery
- “Night of a Thousand Hells” by Intan Paramaditha, translated from Indonesian by Stephen Epstein and Tiffany Tsao
- “Pure Men” by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, translated from French by Lara Vergnaud
- “Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life: Voices of Survival and Witness in Gaza” by Samar Yazbek, translated from Arabic by Leri Price
National Book Award for young people’s literature finalists
- “Holloway” by Elana K. Arnold
- “When Tomorrow Burns” by Tae Keller
- “That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic” by Keala Kendall
- “The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America” by David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels
- “Shook” by Julian Randall
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, covering buzzy releases, chatting with authors and diving into
the culture of reading. Find heron Instagram, subscribe to our weeklyBooks newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: National Book Awards finalists announced. Which authors made the list?
