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The National Book Critics Circle Awards’ First Longlist for Poetry

In sharing the longlists, the National Book Critics Circle is celebrating their 50th anniversary of awarding books.

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For the first time in the history of the National Book Critics Circle Awards—the only literary awards in the United States that are judged by critics—the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is sharing their longlists ahead of the award ceremony on March 20, 2025.

NBCC president, Heather Scott Partington, said “The NBCC is proud to release our longlists for the first time in our 50 year history. Revealing them allows us to honor more writers, translators, and books than we ever have in a single year.”

NBCC officials have also shared that sharing the longlists is a way to celebrate the awards’ 50th anniversary.

The National Book Critics Circle Awards’ First Longlist for Poetry is as follows:

cover of The Palace of Forty Pillars by Armen Davoudian

An Authentic Life by Jennifer Chang Cloud Missives by Kenzie Allen

Consider the Rooster by Oliver Baez Bendorf

A Gaze Hound That Hunteth by the Eye by V. Penelope Pelizzon

Instructions for the Lovers by Dawn Lundy Martin

The Palace of Forty Pillars by Armen Davoudian

Scattered Snows, to the North by Carl Phillips

Sturge Town by Kwame Dawes

Wrong Norma by Anne Carson

Yard Show by Janice N. Harrington

Since December 16th, the NBCC has been sharing other longlists before it made its way to Poetry. To learn more about the NBCC and the other longlists, visit Bookcritics.org or People.

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