Announced on Tuesday morning, the 2026 National Book Award finalists showcase a mix of veteran literary figures and new voices across fiction and nonfiction categories. The winners are scheduled to be revealed on November 18, 2026.
In the fiction category, Edwidge Danticat earns her third finalist nomination, following earlier recognitions for her 1995 short story collection Krik? Krak! and her 2007 nonfiction work Brother, I’m Dying. Her latest novel, Dèy, centers on a woman who witnesses a violent shooting at a Miami shopping mall. Joining Danticat on the shortlist are Hannah Lillith Assadi for Paradiso 17, Julián Delgado Lopera for Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You, Valeria Luiselli for Beginning Middle End, and debut author Morgan Thomas. Thomas’s Mad Eden employs a nontraditional structure to tell the story of a patient navigator at a gender-affirming care center.
The nonfiction shortlist features a range of genres and perspectives. Camonghne Felix presents Let the Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom, a hybrid memoir and call to action informed by her experience as a communications strategist. The category also includes Colin Asher’s The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music, Sara Nović’s Mother Tongue, Joseph Osmundson’s Spawning Season: An Experiment in Queer Parenthood, and Abdelrahman ElGendy’s memoir Huna, which details his time imprisoned in Egypt.
November 18 feels ages away. The suspense is killing me!
Is anyone else surprised ElGendy’s memoir made the cut? That prison history is heavy.
Danticat’s longevity is impressive. Third nomination for her is well-deserved.
Morgan Thomas sounds like a fresh voice to watch. Can’t wait to read Mad Eden!