The National Book Foundation announced the winners of the 2025 National Book Awards tonight at the organization’s 76th annual ceremony in New York City, marking one of the most anticipated nights on the literary calendar.
Hosted by actor and comedian Jeff Hiller, with a musical performance by Corinne Bailey Rae, the event honored outstanding books across Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. This year’s winners emerged from a competitive field of 1,835 submissions — a record reflective of the continued breadth and urgency of contemporary publishing.
In the Fiction category, Rabih Alameddine was awarded for The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), a decades-spanning novel that traverses Beirut, memory and the uneasy bonds between a meticulous son and his boundary-defying mother. Alameddine, already celebrated for The Wrong End of the Telescope and An Unnecessary Woman, draws from six decades of personal and national history to explore solitude, trauma, and unexpected reconciliation.
In Nonfiction category, Omar El Akkad won for One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, a work shaped by the author’s reporting across the War on Terror, Ferguson, climate crises, and the devastation in Gaza. El Akkad, an Egyptian-born journalist and novelist, interrogates the failures and contradictions of Western ideals, delivering a searing chronicle of disillusionment and moral reckoning.
Poet Patricia Smith received the Poetry award for The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems. The collection, spanning her acclaimed career, reinforces Smith’s reputation as one of the essential voices in American poetry. Her work confronts national grief, historical violence, and personal resilience with electrifying precision.
The Translated Literature award went to Argentine novelist Gabriela Cabezón Cámara for We Are Green and Trembling, translated by Robin Myers. The novel, that’s equally queer satire and anti-colonial picaresque, reimagines the life of a historical figure navigating reinvention amid the brutalities of conquest.
Rounding out the night, Daniel Nayeri won the Young People’s Literature award for The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story, an epic adventure following siblings crossing occupied Iran during World War II, blending historical peril with a story of youth, survival and unlikely solidarity.
Two major career honors also shaped the evening. George Saunders took home the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, while Roxane Gay earned the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community — two career-defining honors that anchored the night’s tributes.
Surprise introductions of finalists by Lena Dunham, Tan France, Ira Glass, Dakota Johnson and Laufey punctuated a ceremony that balanced celebration with reflection. Held at Cipriani Wall Street and streamed live, the event reaffirmed the National Book Awards’ role as a beacon for writers pushing literature forward.
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