Akbar, Everett, July Among Our 19 NBA ‘24 Semi-Finalists
Here, in review, are the Penguin Random House titles chosen by the respective groups of judges in each of the five 2024 National Book Award categories; Fiction, its final serial reveal, was announced on September 13.
In all, nineteen works published by the company’s Adult and Children imprints will contend for these prodigious literary honors, with ten longlisters in each group.
In reverse order of their presentation between September 10-13:
Fiction
MARTYR! by Kaveh Akbar
(Knopf HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
CATALINA by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
(One World HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
JAMES by Percival Everett (
Doubleday HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
ALL FOURS by Miranda July
(Riverhead Books HC and E-book; Penguin Audio)
MY FRIENDS by Hisham Matar
(Random House HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
Nonfiction
THERE’S ALWAYS THIS YEAR: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib (Random House HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
OUR MOON: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are by Rebecca Boyle (Random House HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
KNIFE: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie (Random House HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
MAGICAL/REALISM: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal (Tiny Reparations Books HC and E-book; Penguin Audio)
SOLDIERS AND KINGS: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling by Jason De León (Viking Books HC and E-book; Penguin Audio)
UNSHRINKING: How to Face Fatphobia by Kate Manne (Crown HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
Poetry
SPECTRAL EVIDENCE by Gregory Pardlo (Knopf HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
MOTHER by m.s. RedCherries (Penguin Books trade paperback and E-book; Penguin Audio)
Translated Literature
ÆDNAN by Linnea Axelsson, Translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel (Knopf HC and E-book; Random House Audio)
And from our Penguin Random House Publisher Services client, Other Press: “The Tale of a Wall: Reflections on the Meaning of Hope and Freedom” by Nasser Abu Srour, Translated from the Arabic by Luke Leafgren.
Young People’s Literature
ARIEL CRASHES A TRAIN by Olivia A. Cole (Labyrinth Road/RHCB HC & E-book; Listening Library Audiobook)
BUFFALO DREAMER by Violet Duncan (Nancy Paulsen Books HC & E-book; Listening Library Audiobook)
EVERYTHING WE NEVER HAD by Randy Ribay (Kokila HC & E-book; Listening Library Audiobook)
KAREEM BETWEEN by Shifa Saltagi Safadi (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers HC & E-book; Listening Library Audiobook)
Upcoming NBA dates to know:
On Tuesday, October 1, the short lists of five finalists in each of the five categories will be made known.
Wednesday night, November 20, the five winners selected that day by the judging committees will be revealed and presented at a black tie downtown Manhattan National Book Foundation dinner.
Wishing our nominated authors and their publishers every success.