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By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
New York City Adds Its Congratulations
See also: The National Book Awards 2021 Longlists are here for Translated Literature, for Young People’s Literature, for Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry.
Today (October 5), the National Book Foundation has announced its 25 finalists across five categories’ shortlists in the 2021 National Book Awards, the 72nd presentation of these influential honors.
As Publishing Perspectives readers know, each of the categories’ 10 longlisted titles were announced during September.
The foundation points out that among the five categories, there are five writers and two translators who have been previously honored by the National Book Awards:
- Hanif Abdurraqib, a 2019 nonfiction longlister
- Anthony Doerr, a 2014 fiction finalist
- Nona Fernández and Natasha Wimmer, both 2019 translated literature longlisters
- Lauren Groff, twice a finalist for fiction in 2015 and in 2018
- Kekla Magoon, a 2015 young people’s literature longlister
- Leri Price, a 2019 translated literature finalist
All five of the finalists for Poetry are first-time National Book Award honorees. Four of the twenty-five finalists are debuts.
In the aggregate, publishers submitted a total 1,892 books for this year’s National Book Awards:
- 415 in fiction
- 679 in nonfiction
- 290 in poetry
- 164 in translated literature
- 344 in young people’s literature
Winners of the 2021 National Book Awards are to be announced on November 17. In that program, the two lifetime achievement winners for this year will also be honored:
- Karen Tei Yamashita will be recognized with the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, presented by Viet Thanh Nguyen
- Nancy Pearl will receive the Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, presented by Ron Charles
Fiction: 2021 National Book Award Finalists
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| Anthony Doerr | Cloud Cuckoo Land | Simon & Schuster / Scribner |
| Lauren Groff | Matrix | Penguin Random House / Riverhead Books |
| Laird Hunt | Zorrie | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Robert Jones Jr. | The Prophets | Penguin Random House / GP Putnam’s Sons |
| Jason Mott | Hell of a Book | Penguin Random House / Dutton |
Nonfiction: 2021 National Book Award Finalists
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| Hanif Abdurraqib | A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance | Penguin Random House / Random House |
| Lucas Bessire | Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains | Princeton University Press |
| Grace M. Cho | Tastes Like War: A Memoir | Feminist Press at the City University of New York (CUNY) |
| Nicole Eustace | Covered With Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America | WW Norton / Liveright |
| Tiya Miles | All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake | Penguin Random House / Random House |
Poetry: 2021 National Book Award Finalists
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| Desiree C. Bailey | What Noise Against the Cane | Yale University Press |
| Martin Espada | Floaters | WW Norton & Company |
| Douglas Kearney | Sho | Wave Books |
| Hoa Nguyen | A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure | Wave Books |
| Jackie Wang | The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us From the Void | Nightboat Books |
Translated Literature: 2021 National Book Award Finalists
| Author | Title | Original Language | Translator | Publisher / Imprint |
| Elisa Shua Dusapin | Winter in Sokcho | French | Aneesa Abbas Higgins | Open Letter |
| Ge Fei | Peach Blossom Paradise | Chinese | Canaan Morse | New York Review Books |
| Nona Fernández | The Twilight Zone | Spanish | Natasha Wimmer | Graywolf Press |
| Benjamin Labatut | When We Cease To Understand the World | Spanish | Adrian Nathan West | New York Review Books |
| Samar Yazbek | Planet of Clay | Arabic | Leri Price | World Editions |
Young People’s Literature: National Book Award Finalists
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| Shing Yin Khor | The Legend of Auntie Po | Penguin Random House / Kokila |
| Malinda Lo | Last Night at the Telegraph Club | Penguin Random House / Dutton Books for Young Readers |
| Kyle Lukoff | Too Bright to See | Penguin Random House / Dial Books for Young Readers |
| Kekla Magoon | Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People | Candlewick Press |
| Amber McBride | Me (Moth) | Macmillan Publishers / Feiwel and Friends |
Judges’ decisions are made independently of the National Book Foundation staff and board of directors; deliberations are strictly confidential.
In offering its congratulations in a message to the news media today, New York City’s Mayor’s Office for Media and Entertainment says that it has “plans to support its literary ecosystem,” although details as yet are not being described.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the National Book Awards is here, and on publishing and book awards programs in general is here.
More on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here