Book award season is peaking along with the autumn leaves as the National Book Award shortlists have been released in four categories. These have been whittled down from last month’s longlists, and the winners will be announced in New York City on November 18.
You read about nearly all of the books on the Fiction shortlist here first, as they appeared in our indispensable first-half and second-half previews.
Here’s a list of the finalists in all four categories with bonus links and excerpts where available:
Fiction:
- Refund by Karen E. Bender (“For What Purpose”)
- The Turner House by Angela Flournoy (Dynamite Detroit Debut: On Angela Flournoy’s The Turner House)
- Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff (the book’s opening passage, The Most Joyous Part: The Millions Interviews Lauren Groff, Lauren Groff writing at The Millions)
- Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson (excerpt)
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (Two Lives: On Hanya Yanagihara and Atticus Lish, ‘I Wouldn’tve Had a Biography at All’: The Millions Interviews Hanya Yanagihara)
Nonfiction:
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (“We Know Less Than We Think We Do”)
- Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs by Sally Mann (excerpt)
- The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery (excerpt)
- If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran by Carla Power (excerpt)
- Ordinary Light: A Memoir by Tracy K. Smith (A Field Guide to Silences: On Tracy K. Smith’s Ordinary Light)
Poetry:
- Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay (the title poem)
- How to Be Drawn by Terrance Hayes (poem)
- Voyage of the Sable Venus by Robin Coste Lewis (poem)
- Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón (Charring the Page: On Ada Limón’s Bright Dead Things)
- Elegy for a Broken Machine by Patrick Phillips (the title poem)
Young People’s Literature:
- The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin (excerpt)
- Bone Gap by Laura Ruby (excerpt)
- Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War by Steve Sheinkin (excerpt)
- Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (excerpt)
- Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (interview)
