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In Reading Color

The National Book Award Longlists, BIPOC Edition

The 2026 National Book Awards has to be one of the most diverse awards offerings ever.

Erica Ezeifedi

Associate Editor

Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack. Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.

View All posts by Erica Ezeifedi

The National Book Award Longlists were just announced last week. The Awards have been around for almost 100 years (except for a WWII hiatus), and celebrate books published in the US by US authors. It is among the most prestigious literary awards.

National Book Award winners are among my favorite books, and this year’s nominees are pretty diverse.

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Fiction

Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi

Red Ants by Kimberly Blaeser

Dèy by Edwidge Danticat

Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You by Julián Delgado Lopera

Python’s Kiss by Louise Erdrich

The Disappearers by Marlon James

Beginning Middle End by Valeria Luiselli

Nonfiction

Seasons of Fury: Four Families and the Rise of Islamophobia in America by Rozina Ali

Huna: A Memoir of Revolution, Prison, and Becoming by Abdelrahman ElGendy

Let the Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom by Camonghne Felix

The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home by Wil Haygood

A Dead White: An Argument Against White Paint by Wendy S. Walters

Young People’s Literature

The Free Verse Society by Delali Adjoa

The Celestial Seas by T. A. Chan

When Tomorrow Burns by Tae Keller

That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic by Keala Kendall

The Moon Without Stars by Chanel Miller

Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams by Eric Darnell Pritchard

Shook by Julian Randall

Translated Literature

Eden at Dawn by Karim Kattan, Translated from French by Jeffrey Zuckerman

To the East of the East by Ping Lu, Translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang

Pure Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Translated from French by Lara Vergnaud

Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life: Voices of Survival and Witness in Gaza by Samar Yazbek, Translated from the Arabic by Leri Price

Poetry

Tree of Knowledge by Victoria Chang

Hide by Carolina Ebeid

Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza by Fady Joudah

We by Layli Long Soldier

Promise/Threat by Jonah Mixon-Webster

Horses by Jake Skeets

For more on the list, visit the organization’s website.

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