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 Winners & Finalists with Longlisted Books

    Fiction

  • Karen Russell, The Antidote (Knopf)
  • Katie Kitamura, Audition (Riverhead)
  • Madeleine Thien, The Book of Records (W.W. Norton)
  • Lily King, Heart the Lover (Grove)
  • Ayşegül Savaş, Long Distance (Bloomsbury)
  • Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell, On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) (New Directions)
  • Caren Beilin, Sea, Poison (New Directions)
  • Tash Aw, The South (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Han Kang, translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, We Do Not Part (Hogarth)
  • Angela Flournoy, The Wilderness (Mariner)

    Nonfiction

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

    Biography

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

    Autobiography

  • Margaret Atwood, Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts (Doubleday)
  • Michael Thomas, The Broken King (Grove)
  • Hala Alyan, I'll Tell You When I'm Home (Avid Reader Press)
  • Geraldine Brooks, Memorial Days (Viking)
  • Arundhati Roy, Mother Mary Comes to Me (Scribner)
  • Beth Macy, Paper Girl (Penguin)
  • Hanif Kureishi, Shattered (Ecco)
  • Yiyun Li, Things in Nature Merely Grow (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Miriam Toews, A Truce That Is Not Peace (Bloomsbury)
  • Hester Kaplan, Twice Born: Finding My Father In the Margins of Biography (Catapult)

    Poetry

  • Camille Ralphs, After You Were, I Am (McSweeney's)
  • Yuki Tanaka, Chronicle of Drifting (Copper Canyon)
  • Rickey Laurentiis, Death of the First Idea (Knopf)
  • Arthur Sze, Into the Hush (Copper Canyon)
  • Kevin Young, Night Watch (Knopf)
  • Henri Cole, The Other Love (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Hedgie Choi, Salvage (University of Wisconsin)
  • Gary Jackson, small lives (University of New Mexico)
  • Natalie Shapero, Stay Dead (Copper Canyon)
  • Tolu Oloruntoba, Unravel (McClelland & Stewart)

    Criticism

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

    John Leonard Prize

  • 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

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

    Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing

  • Edna Bonhomme
  • Priscilla Gilman
  • Julia Klein
  • James Marcus

    Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award

  • Frances FitzGerald

    NBCC Service Award

  • Elizabeth Taylor
    Elizabeth Taylor