Here Are The Finalists For The 2019 National Book Awards

By Colin Dwyer

Published October 8, 2019 at 9:40 AM CDT

Twenty-five books remain in consideration for the five National Book Awards that will be doled out Nov. 20 in New York City. Among the names to be found on the 2019 shortlists: Marlon James, Susan Choi, Jason Reynolds, Carolyn Forche and Laila Lalami, among others.

Just 25 books can still be called contenders for the 2019 National Book Awards.

The National Book Foundation on Tuesday unveiled the finalists, listing five books each in five categories. And while there are some readily recognizable names among the remaining authors — some with past shortlist appearances and other literary prizes already under their belt — none of them has taken home a National Book Award in these categories before.

That means Edmund White, who has already been announced as winner of this year's lifetime achievement award, will be joined by a host of newcomers when it comes time for the recipients to be announced on Nov. 20 at a ritzy ceremony in New York City.

You'll find the finalists' names below, along with links to NPR's previous coverage where available, by scrolling down or simply jumping to a category.

Fiction

Susan Choi, Trust Exercise

Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Sabrina & Corina: Stories

Marlon James, Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Laila Lalami, The Other Americans

Julia Phillips, Disappearing Earth

Nonfiction

Sarah M. Broom, The Yellow House

Tressie McMillan Cottom, Thick: And Other Essays

Carolyn Forché, What You Have Heard is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance

David Treuer, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present

Albert Woodfox with Leslie George, Solitary

Poetry

Jericho Brown, The Tradition

Toi Derricotte,"I": New and Selected Poems

Ilya Kaminsky, Deaf Republic

Carmen Giménez Smith, Be Recorder

Arthur Sze, Sight Lines

Translated literature

Khaled Khalifa, Death Is Hard Work
Translated from Arabic by Leri Price

László Krasznahorkai, Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming
Translated from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet

Scholastique Mukasonga, The Barefoot Woman
Translated from French by Jordan Stump

Yoko Ogawa, The Memory Police
Translated from Japanese by Stephen Snyder

Pajtim Statovci, Crossing
Translated from Finnish by David Hackston

Young people's literature

Akwaeke Emezi, Pet

Jason Reynolds, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

Randy Ribay,Patron Saints of Nothing

Laura Ruby, Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All

Martin W. Sandler, 1919: The Year That Changed America