The National Book Critics Circle Awards

Each year, the National Book Critics Circle presents awards for the finest books published in English in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism.

In addition, we award two prizes voted on by membership: the John Leonard Prize for the best first book in any genre and the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize, for the best book of any genre translated into English and published in the United States. We also award the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, which recognizes outstanding work by a member of the NBCC, and the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award and Toni Morrison Achievement Award, which are given respectively to individuals and literary institutions for transformative contributions to book culture.

2025 NBCC Award Finalists

  • Fiction

    The Antidote
    Audition
    On the Calculation of Volume
    We Do Not Part
    The Wilderness

    • Karen Russell

      The Antidote Knopf

    • Katie Kitamura

      Audition Riverhead

    • Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell

      On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) New Directions

    • Han Kang, translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris

      We Do Not Part Hogarth

    • Angela Flournoy

      The Wilderness Mariner
  • Longlisted Books
    The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien (W.W. Norton)
    Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove)
    Long Distance by Ayşegül Savaş (Bloomsbury)
    Sea, Poison by Caren Beilin (New Directions)
    The South by Tash Aw (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

  • Nonfiction

    America, America
    Daughters of the Bamboo Grove
    Empire of AI
    King of Kings
    No More Tears

    • Greg Grandin

      America, América: A New History of the New World Penguin Press

    • Barbara Demick

      Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins Random House

    • Karen Hao

      Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI Penguin Press

    • Scott Anderson

      King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution, a Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation Doubleday

    • Gardiner Harris

      No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson Random House
  • Longlisted Books
    The Intermediaries: A Weimar Story by Brandy Schillace (W. W. Norton)
    Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (Harper)
    A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile by Aatish Taseer (Catapult)
    Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness by Michael Koresky (Bloomsbury)
    Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America by Michael Luo (Doubleday)

  • Biography

    Love, Queenie
    A Perfect Turmoil
    Pride and Pleasure
    Queen Mother
    Trouble Maker

    • Mayukh Sen

      Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star W. W. Norton

    • Alex Green

      A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America's Disabled Bellevue Literary Press

    • Amanda Vaill

      Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution Farrar, Straus and Giroux

    • Ashley D. Farmer

      Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore Pantheon

    • Carla Kaplan

      Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford Harper
  • Longlisted Books
    Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America by Sam Tanenhaus (Random House)
    Constantine Cavafy: A New Biography by Gregory Jusdanis and Peter Jeffreys (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
    Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson by Claire Hoffman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
    Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux (W. W. Norton)
    William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love by Philip Hoare (Pegasus Books)

  • Autobiography

    Memorial Days
    Mother Mary Comes to Me
    Paper Girl
    Shattered
    A Truce That Is Not Peace

    • Geraldine Brooks

      Memorial Days Viking

    • Arundhati Roy

      Mother Mary Comes to Me Scribner

    • Beth Macy

      Paper Girl Penguin

    • Hanif Kureishi

      Shattered Ecco

    • Miriam Toews

      A Truce That Is Not Peace Bloomsbury
  • Longlisted Books
    Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday)
    The Broken King by Michael Thomas (Grove)
    I'll Tell You When I'm Home by Hala Alyan (Avid Reader Press)
    Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
    Twice Born: Finding My Father In the Margins of Biography by Hester Kaplan (Catapult)

  • Poetry

    Chronicle of Drifting
    Death of the First Idea
    Night Watch
    The Other Love
    Unravel

    • Yuki Tanaka

      Chronicle of Drifting Copper Canyon

    • Rickey Laurentiis

      Death of the First Idea Knopf

    • Kevin Young

      Night Watch Knopf

    • Henri Cole

      The Other Love Farrar, Straus and Giroux

    • Tolu Oloruntoba

      Unravel McClelland & Stewart
  • Longlisted Books
    After You Were, I Am by Camille Ralphs (McSweeney's)
    Into the Hush by Arthur Sze (Copper Canyon)
    Salvage by Hedgie Choi (University of Wisconsin)
    small lives by Gary Jackson (University of New Mexico)
    Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero (Copper Canyon)

  • Criticism

    Exophony
    Greyhound
    Hayek's Bastards
    One Day Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This
    To Save and Destroy

    • Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda

      Exophony: Voyages Outside the Mother Tongue New Directions

    • Joanna Pocock

      Greyhound Soft Skull Press

    • Quinn Slobodian

      Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right Zone Books

    • Omar El Akkad

      One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This Knopf

    • Viet Thanh Nguyen

      To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other Harvard University Press
  • Longlisted Books
    Algorithm of the Night: Film Writing, 2019-2025 by A.S. Hamrah (n+1)
    Authority: Essays by Andrea Long Chu (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
    Dismantling the Master's Clock: On Race, Space, and Time by Rasheedah Phillips (AK Press)
    Erik Satie Three Piece Suite by Ian Penman (Semiotext(e))
    Medium Hot: Images in the Age of Heat by Hito Steyerl (Verso Books)

  • John Leonard Prize

    The John Leonard Prize for Best First Book is selected by the organization’s membership. The 2024 winner will be announced on March 20, 2024.

    Baldwin
    Crown
    Hunchback
    Mood Machine
    Salvage
    The Slip

    • Nicholas Boggs

      Baldwin: A Love Story Farrar, Straus and Giroux

    • Evanthia Bromiley

      Crown Grove Press

    • Saou Ichikawa, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton

      Hunchback Hogarth

    • Liz Pelly

      Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist Atria/One Signal Publishers

    • Hedgie Choi

      Salvage University of Wisconsin Press

    • Lucas Schaefer

      The Slip Simon & Schuster

  • Gregg Barrios Book in Translation

    Exophony
    Heart Lamp
    Near Distance
    Sad Tiger
    The Frog in the Throat
    The Wax Child

    • Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda

      Exophony: Voyages Outside the Mother Tongue New Directions

    • Banu Mushtaq, translated from the Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi

      Heart Lamp And Other Stories

    • Hanna Stoltenberg, translated from the Norwegian by Wendy H. Gabrielsen

      Near Distance Biblioasis

    • Neige Sinno, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer

      Sad Tiger Seven Stories

    • Markus Werner, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann

      The Frog in the Throat NYRB

    • Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken

      The Wax Child New Directions
  • Longlisted Books
    Bodies Found in Various Places by Elvira Hernández, translated from the Spanish by Daniel Borzutzky and Alec Schumacher (Cardboard House)
    Gaza: The Poem Said Its Piece by Nasser Rabah, translated from the Arabic by Ammiel Alcalay, Emna Zghal and Khaled Al-Hilli (City Lights)
    The Ruins by Ye Hui, translated from the Chinese by Dong Li (Deep Vellum)
    Ugliness by Moshtari Hilal, translated from the German by Elisabeth Lauffer (New Vessel Press)
    We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris (Hogarth)
    Wickerwork by Christian Lehnert, translated from the German by Richard Sieburth (Archipelago)

  • Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing

    The Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing is an annual award recognizing outstanding work by a member of the NBCC. The citation is awarded in honor of Nona Balakian, a founding member of the National Book Critics Circle, and comes with a cash prize of $1,000. The winner of the 2025 Balakian Prize is Rhoda Feng. The finalists are listed below.

    • Edna Bonhomme

    • Priscilla Gilman

    • Julia Klein

    • James Marcus