Our 76th National Book Awards Winner: Omar El Akkad's ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS
On the night of November 19, 2025, the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization, announced the winners of the 76th National Book Awards, which celebrate the best literature published in the United States. Presented from Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, and livestreamed for readers everywhere, the ceremony was hosted by Jeff Hiller, Emmy Award–winning actor, comedian, and author, and featuring musical guest Corinne Bailey Rae, GRAMMY Award–winning singer, songwriter, and author.
We’re thrilled to share that our Knopf and Random House Audio author Omar El Akkad‘s ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS was recognized as a winner in the Nonfiction category.
Nonfiction Winner
ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS (Knopf; Random House Audio)
From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values. On October 25, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This tweet has been viewed more than 10 million times.
This is El Akkad’s nonfiction debut, his most raw and vulnerable work to date, a heartsick breakup letter with the West. It is a brilliant articulation of the same breakup we are watching all over the United States, in family rooms, on college campuses, on city streets; the consequences of this rupture are just beginning. This book is for all the people who want something better than what the West has served up. This is the book for our time.
Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
Our Finalists
In addition to our winners, we were proud to have five finalists across three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young People’s Literature. Congratulations to all of our authors and colleagues on this incredible accomplishment, which is a testament to our publishing talent.
Fiction
A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF by Megha Majumdar (Knopf; Random House Audio)
In a near-future Kolkata beset by flooding and famine, Ma, her two-year-old daughter, and her elderly father are just days from leaving the collapsing city behind to join Ma’s husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After procuring long-awaited visas from the consulate, they pack their bags for the flight to America. But in the morning they awaken to discover that Ma’s purse, containing their treasured immigration documents, has been stolen.
THE ANTIDOTE by Karen Russell (Knopf; Random House Audio)
The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the dust bowl drought but beneath its own violent histories. The Antidote follows a “Prairie Witch,” whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples’ memories and secrets; a Polish wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch’s apprentice in furious flight from her grief; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town’s secrets and its fate.
Nonfiction
ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad (Knopf; Random House Audio)
On October 25, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This tweet has been viewed more than 10 million times.
WHEN IT ALL BURNS: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas (Riverhead; Penguin Audio)
Eighteen of California’s largest wildfires on record have burned in the past two decades. Scientists recently invented the term “megafire” to describe wildfires that behave in ways that would have been nearly impossible just a generation ago, burning through winter, exploding in the night, and devastating landscapes historically impervious to incendiary destruction.
Young People’s Literature
A WORLD WORTH SAVING by Kyle Lukoff (Dial Books for Young Readers; Listening Library)
Covid lockdown is over, but A’s world feels smaller than ever. Coming out as trans didn’t exactly go well, and most days, he barely leaves his bedroom, let alone the house. But the low point of A’s life isn’t online school, missing his bar mitzvah, or the fact that his parents monitor his phone like hawks—it’s the weekly Save Our Sons and Daughters meetings his parents all but drag him to.
We’d also like to acknowledge the PRHPS title, a finalist in Translated Literature!
SAD TIGER by Neige Sinno, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer (Seven Stories)
Sad Tiger is built on the facts of a series of devastating events. Neige Sinno was seven years old when her stepfather started sexually abusing her. At 19, she decided to break the silence that is so common in all cultures around sexual violence. This led to a public trial and prison for her stepfather and Sinno started a new life in Mexico.
Warmest congratulations to our authors, teams, and everyone who played a part in the success of these incredible books!