These are the 2025 National Book Award Winners

The 2025 National Book Award Winners have been announced and we will be covering the winners and the nominees for this year.

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine won the fiction award while One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad won the nonfiction award.

In his speech when accepting the prize, El Akkad said “It’s very difficult to think in celebratory terms about a book that was written in response to a genocide. t’s difficult to think in celebratory terms when I spent two years seeing what shrapnel does to a child’s body. It is difficult to think in celebratory terms when I know that my tax money is doing this, and that many of my elected representatives happily support it.” 

Winners were also announced for other categories and you can see the winners and the nominees below.

Fiction

• The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine (WINNER)
• A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
• The Antidote by Karen Russell
• North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford
• Palaver by Bryan Washington

Nonfiction

• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (WINNER)
• Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy by Julia Ioffe
• Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
• Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care by Claudia Rowe
• When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas

Poetry

• The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems by Patricia Smith (WINNER)
• The New Economy by Gabrielle Calvocoressi
• Becoming Ghost by Cathy Linh Che
• Scorched Earth by Tiana Clark
• I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken

Translated Literature

• We Are Green and Trembling. Translated by Robin Myers by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara,  (WINNER)
• On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) by Solvej Balle, Translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, Translated by David McKay
• We Computers: A Ghazal Novel by Hamid Ismailov, Translated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega
• Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno, Translated by Natasha Lehrer 

Young People’s Literature

• The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri (WINNER)
• A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff
• The Leaving Room by Amber McBride
• Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr
• (S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)

The National Book Award sticker is iconic and one that many people recognize from their childhood. This year’s winner was The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine. The book tells the story of a son and his mother and their complicated relationship over the course of six decades.

How many books can you say that you have read that are set in Lebanon? Over hundreds of books are considered for the award so you know that it has to be a good novel. Most people have a complicated relationship with their parents and this novel touches on many themes that will make you think about your relationships with your loved ones.

The National Book Award was founded in the 1950s and honors literature that is published in the United States. It is considered one of the most prestigious literary in the country. Last year’s winner was  Percival Everett for his brilliant novel James.

The National Book Award, which honors literature published in the United States, was established in 1950 and is among the most prestigious literary prizes in the country. Past recipients include William Faulkner, W.H. Auden, Ralph Ellison, Jesmyn Ward and, in 2024, Percival Everett.

A novel on this list that I want to read is The Antidote by Karen Russell. I have only heard good things about it and it is on my to-read list.

The novel tells the stories of many residents of the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. The town is failing for many reasons; the Great Depression, the dust bowl, and its own violent history. Russell writes about a variety of characters as we follow their life. What one generation passes onto the next and what is lost over time.

And eventually I want to read a ton of nominations for this award as well as the award winners.I know that they will surpass my expectations. Until next time, happy reading!

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