National Book Awards 2026 Longlists Announced

The National Book Foundation announced the 2026 National Book Award longlists for Translated Literature and Young People's Literature today. According to a foundation release, the Translated Literature longlist was drawn from 159 submitted books.

This year's 10-title Translated Literature longlist originates from seven languages. Arabic, Chinese, French, Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish are represented. Indonesian appears for the first time as a translated language in the award's history. The list is comprised of nine novels and one work of nonfiction.

Notable Authors and Translators

Several authors and translators on the 2026 longlist have been recognized by the National Book Foundation before. Translator Martin Aitken was a finalist in 2018 and was longlisted in 2022. Mohamed Mbougar Sarr and translator Lara Vergnaud were longlisted in 2023. Maria Stepanova and translator Sasha Dugdale were longlisted in 2021. Translator Natasha Wimmer has been longlisted and was a finalist in previous years. Author Samar Yazbek and translator Leri Price have been finalists twice, and Price has additional longlist and finalist credits.

The judging panel for the 2026 Translated Literature award includes Shelley Fairweather-Vega, Javier García del Moral, John Keene, Christopher Merrill (Chair), and Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi.

The Translated Literature Longlist

The National Book Foundation provided the complete longlist for the Translated Literature category.

Young People's Literature Longlist

The foundation also announced the longlist for the Young People's Literature award. Publishers submitted 290 books for this category. The judges are Edith Campbell, Brandy Colbert (Chair), Tricia Ebarvia, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, and Anne Ursu.

The ten longlisted titles are The Free Verse Society by Delali Adjoa (Peachtree Teen), Holloway by Elana K. Arnold (Clarion Books), The Celestial Seas by T. A. Chan (Viking Books for Young Readers), When Tomorrow Burns by Tae Keller (Random House Books for Young Readers), That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic by Keala Kendall (Random House Books for Young Readers), The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America by David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels (Knopf Books for Young Readers), The Moon Without Stars by Chanel Miller (Philomel Books), Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams by Eric Darnell Pritchard and Shannon Wright (Abrams Books for Young Readers), Shook by Julian Randall (Henry Holt and Company), and Life on the Moon by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr (Knopf Books for Young Readers).

The finalists for all five National Book Award categories will be named on Tuesday, October 6. Winners are scheduled to be announced at the 77th National Book Awards ceremony on Wednesday, November 18, 2026.