National Book Award: Winners, Finalists, and Longlisted Titles

From the bestselling author of Everything Inside comes a vivid and timely novel that moves from Haiti to Brooklyn to Miami, following a Haitian American woman whose sense of self and family is forever altered after she survives a random act of violence one sunny Florida day.

Is home the place where we are born? Or is it the place where we die? These questions haunt Magnolia, a successful Haitian American real estate agent in Miami, after she hears gunfire erupt while shopping for her daughter s first cell phone. Seeking shelter inside a restaurant called Oasis, Magnolia huddles with frightened strangers, each praying to their own gods as chaos unfolds around them.

Once safely home, Magnolia hides the truth about being at the mall during the shooting from those closest to her. But surviving the tragedy forces her to confront her life with startling clarity. She begins to reevaluate the bond she shares with her daughter, Zo ; the strained relationship with her partner, Harrison; and the lingering wounds carried by her parents, whose pain and unraveling histories continue to shape her own fears and identity.

As Magnolia journeys through memories, grief, and unanswered questions, she must also come to terms with the losses tied to that traumatic day losses that echo through communities far too often in modern life. Torn between Miami and Haiti, marriage and solitude, the living and the dead, Magnolia searches for where she truly belongs.

Taking its title from the Creole word for mourning, D y is a profound and deeply moving novel about grief, survival, family, and the fragile beauty of everyday life. Through Magnolia s story, the novel explores the enduring ties that connect us shared meals, gardens, memories, and love even in the face of violence and uncertainty.

Shake the World is a powerful and heartfelt middle-grade novel about basketball, identity, anxiety, and resilience perfect for fans of Kwame Alexander and Jason Reynolds. Beautifully designed with illustrations, this story blends humor, swagger, and emotional depth into an unforgettable coming-of-age journey.

A gift! #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds

Absolutely vibrating with energy and heart a masterful middle-grade novel. Newbery Honoree Jasmine Warga

Malik Page though unless you re his mama, call him Shake dreams of making the Marshall Grove varsity basketball squad as an eighth grader. Then he ll be on his way to joining the ranks of Chicago legends like his pops and late Uncle Kenny.

But when Shake fractures his ankle during a championship game, he s sidelined for the first time since his very first dribble.

As his world turns upside down, Shake feels like there s ginger ale bubbling in his chest and sweat slicking his palms. His best friend is growing distant, the silence between him and his father keeps getting heavier, and varsity tryouts are quickly approaching.

To make his way back onto the court and back to himself Shake will have to cross up every obstacle in his path. Thankfully, in Marshall Grove, the sky is always full of hope.

Perfect for readers who love:

• Sports stories though non-sports fans will love this one too
• Short, quick reads
• Hopeful depictions of anxiety and mental health
• Main characters with undeniable swagger
• Humor and heart

Readers, make permanent room on your shelves and in your hearts for this witty and poignant novel. National Book Award winner Elizabeth Acevedo

Stunning. This book is powerful. Newbery Medalist Tae Keller

Witty, electric and profound, Randall s verse dribbles, twists and weaves, highlighting the complicated inner world of a middle-school boy with nuance and care. National Book Award finalist Amber McBride

From Marlon James, author of the Booker Prize winning A Brief History of Seven Killings: a propulsive novel about the murder of a gay man in 1980s Jamaica and its tragic consequences.

In 1988, eight men in Kingston, Jamaica, begin rehearsals for a play. The men are strangers to one another and each has a different reason for being involved. But they all share one inescapable truth: All of them are gay a battyman in Jamaican argot and all of them must contend with the dangers that such a truth lays bare.

One night a mob savagely attacks them, killing one of the men. For the survivors, their recovery is as much emotional as it is physical. As their bodies heal, each man grapples with the violence, the hatred, and the rage that the attack made plain. Some try to ignore what the attack has unearthed, while others double down on retribution.

In The Disappearers, James has written a riveting and deeply human story of men forced to make compromises to survive what the society they live in demands. It is both a dramatic page-turner and an unflinching exploration of queer life in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s.

The New York Times Book Review Editors Choice Award-winning author and journalist Wil Haygood explores how the Vietnam War became a mirror for the struggle of Black Americans fighting for freedom abroad while demanding equality at home and a powerful lens through which to understand the racial and political divides that continue to shape American life.

With this book, Wil Haygood has become the preeminent chronicler of the Black experience in America. Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Laureate for The Making of the Atomic Bomb

In these masterful pages, Haygood reframes both the Vietnam War and the United States unfinished struggle for equality. Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of 13 Hours and Lost in Shangri-La

Drawing on the lives of soldiers and officers, doctors and nurses, journalists and activists, artists and politicians, Haygood illuminates a generation caught between two battles: one on the front lines in Vietnam and another for justice and dignity in America.

Among those at the heart of the story are Air Force pilot Fred Cherry, the first Black officer captured by the North Vietnamese and a hero to millions back home; Dr. Elbert Nelson, a doctor who came to Vietnam after watching TV footage of the Watts riots in Los Angeles and soon found himself amid rising Black soldier protests overseas; Wallace Terry, a groundbreaking Black reporter determined to expose the dynamics of race and war to the American public; and Philippa Schuyler, a biracial concert pianist who traveled to Vietnam to rescue mixed-race orphans, many fathered by Black soldiers, and died trying to bring them to safety.

Surrounding their experiences are the cultural and political forces of the era, including Martin Luther King Jr., Marvin Gaye, Berry Gordy, and Lyndon Johnson, whose voices and actions shaped a decade of turbulence and transformation.

The War Within a War is both sweeping history and intimate revelation, capturing the tragedies and triumphs, the honor and hypocrisies, the courage and cowardice that shaped an era and whose repercussions resonate today.

A young professor grapples with homophobia in Muslim Senegal in this searching, heart-wrenching novel from the National Book Award longlisted author of The Most Secret Memory of Men.

A viral video makes the rounds in Dakar, showing an incensed crowd that gathers to dig up a grave and drag the corpse from holy ground. When Ndéné, a French literature teacher, watches it, he’s surprisingly affected. Who was this man, and what could he have done to deserve such a fate? The answer soon becomes clear: he was a “g or-jigéen,” one of the so-called “men-women,” the shameful label given to homosexuals, cross-dressers, or any man who lives outside the accepted norm.

Haunted by the video, Ndéné sets out to learn more. With the help of a friend who works in night life, he explores a hidden side of Dakar, away from the rigid Islam of his family and university. Although he feels a certain disgust for homosexuality, he’s moved by the suffering and resilience of the people he meets. But the further he goes, the more he doubts his own identity, threatening to become an object of suspicion and scorn himself.

A powerful, nuanced portrait of queerness in a conservative society, Pure Men asks the fundamental question of how to find the courage to be true to yourself, whatever the cost.

This acclaimed picture book biography is longlisted for the 2026 National Book Award for Young People s Literature!

Clothes to Make You Smile is a picture book biography about Patrick Kelly, one of fashion s most influential Black designers, joyously told by fashion expert and educator Eric Darnell Pritchard and beautifully illustrated by award-winning artist Shannon Wright.

Patrick Kelly was one of the most influential fashion designers of the twentieth century, but growing up in Vicksburg, Mississippi, he didn t see many boys who liked to sew. That didn t stop him from sitting down at his grandma s table and picking up a needle and thread.

Patrick loved the way clothes could make someone feel their best, and he dreamed of creating designs full of joy and whimsy. Those dreams brought him to some of the biggest cities in the world, but when he got there, he was told that his clothes were too vibrant, too tacky, and too much!

When the fashion world rejected his designs, Patrick just laughed and carried right on working. He created clothes for people like him, outsiders who didn t grow up fitting in but weren t afraid to stand out. He filled his designs with love, and when the world finally recognized his talent, they couldn t help but smile.

A tender hate-to-love YA romance about two teens who connect through their high school poetry club, where the power of the written word tears down the walls they ve built around their hearts. No one in Delray knows Jae A enyo s story that she s a teen mom who placed her baby for adoption and she intends to keep it that way. After moving in with her uncle, Jae is looking for a fresh start. But an accidental run-in with the school s delinquent, Derek Patel, is not exactly what she had in mind. She soon finds a haven in the poetry club at least, until Derek joins.

Derek Patel is desperately clinging to his old life where his dad was alive, his mom was healthy, and they lived in an oceanfront estate instead of a run-down pink bungalow. He ll do anything to hide his problems from his friends, including breaking into his old house to keep up the charade that he still lives there. But the house now belongs to the school s lit teacher, who offers him the chance to join the poetry club as a penance.

As the newest members of the club, Jae and Derek are tasked with planning the end-of-semester poetry reading. While Derek is hell-bent on keeping his broken family a secret, Jae is desperate to prove to her uncle that she s more than a walking statistic which means guarding her heart against Derek, who her uncle thinks is no good.

A poignant exploration of love, loss, and the power of words to draw people together, The Free Verse Society announces the arrival of an important new voice in YA romance. Perfect for readers who love:

• Forced Proximity
• Forbidden Love
• Opposites Attract
• Hate to Love
• The Misunderstood Bad Boy
• Opposite Sides of the Tracks
• Reading/Literature Club Bonding