2023 Kirkus Prize Finalists Announced

The finalists for the 2023 Kirkus Prize are out. The Kirkus Prize, in its 10th year, is one of the richest literary awards in the world and grants a prize of $50,000 every year to authors for works of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature.

This year’s finalists were books published between November 1, 2022 and October 31, 2023. Each of them earned the Kirkus star — which Kirkus uses to mark “books of exceptional merit” — even before being nominated for the prize.

Tom Beer, Kirkus’ editor-in-chief, said of the finalists, “From gorgeously written and moving fiction, to deeply researched and clear-eyed nonfiction, to young readers’ literature that entertains and educates, the finalists represent the very best books that Kirkus has seen this year.”

The 2023 Kirkus Prize Finalists are:

Fiction

Witness by Jamel Brinkley

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward