Today, the Women’s Prize Trust announced the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, which highlights sixteen novels—including seven debuts, seven American writers, and nine offerings from indie publishers—published in the last year.

“Across a longlist that is international in both scope and setting, these sixteen books masterfully demonstrate the power of fiction to examine the messy business of being human,” said Julia Gillard, Chair of Judges, in a statement. “From climate change to artificial intelligence, they navigate the issues of our time with urgency and purpose, they immerse us in environments and experiences that are sometimes like our own, but more often are radically different, and they explore identities and perspectives that are often ignored or forgotten, amidst those inherently universal and recognizable.”

Here’s the longlist:

Lucy Apps, Gloria Don’t Speak
Hannah Lillith Assadi, Paradiso 17
Elaine Castillo, Moderation
Susan Choi, Flashlight
Addie E. Citchens, Dominion
Wendy Erskine, The Benefactors
Virginia Evans, The Correspondent
Marcia Hutchinson, The Mercy Step
Sheena Kalayil, The Others
Rozie Kelly, Kingfisher
Lily King, Heart the Lover
Katie Kitamura, Audition
Megha Majumdar, A Guardian and a Thief
Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore
Kit de Waal, The Best of Everything 
Alice Evelyn Yang, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing

The shortlist will be released on April 22, and the winner will be announced in June. The winner will receive £30,000, anonymously endowed, along with a statuette known as the ‘Bessie’, created and donated by the late artist Grizel Niven.

The post » Here’s the longlist for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Today, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced the five finalists for the 2026 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The judging panel, which this year was comprised of Samantha Hunt, Tania James, and De’Shawn Charles Winslow, selected these finalists from a list of 387 eligible novels and short story collections published by American authors in 2025.

“The five vital, brilliant books on our shortlist draw us into humanity’s complex core of beauty, violence, joy, intelligence, and imagination,” the jury said in a prepared statement. “Families spin; nature embraces life; connections whisper or shout; hearts break then grow while human truths emerge. These books—outstretched hands—verify that the small can consistently counter mighty power structures endangering our earth and that art always stands resilient, emancipating, and essential.”

This year’s finalists are:

Addie E. Citchens, Dominion (FSG)

Quiara Alegría Hudes, The White Hot (One World)

Jonas Hassen Khemiri, The Sisters (FSG)

Lily King, Heart the Lover (Grove Press)

Mahreen Sohail, Small Scale Sinners (A Public Space)

*

The winner, announced in April, will receive $15,000, and the remaining four finalists will each receive $5,000.

The post » Here are the finalists for the 2026 PEN/Faulkner award for fiction. appeared first on Our Story Insight.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

Harlequin Is Ending Its Historical Romance Line After Nearly 40 Years

Even as romance has become the dominant genre in modern book publishing, not all segments have benefitted equally. If you would have told me these two things 10 years ago, I would not have been able to comprehend what you were talking about. First, that romance would be as huge as it is today. Second, at the same time, Harlequin would be shutting down its historical romance line. And the reason for my amazement would be romantasy’s rise combined with the ascendance, to the tune of cultural juggernauts, of commercial romance. This also feels like I time that, if I could, I would buy historical romance on the dip. Maybe it is because Wuthering Heights is projected to do very well at the box office this weekend and maybe it is because I can’t shake my priors about how many readers have loved historical romance.

Hamnet Doing Great Business at the Box Office….and at the Bookstore

Hamnet has already doubled its $35 million production budget at the box office, with the majority coming from international markets. The spillover effect for the book has been even more signficant, with sales increasing more than 700%. Hamnet had already entered paperback-favorite territory, so this is even more fuel to the fire. And, as we got into at length, the book deserves it as it is very, very good.

Today In Books

Sign up to Today In Books to receive daily news and miscellany from the world of books.

Subscribe to Selected
No Thanks

Orhan Pamuk’s First Adaptation Comes to Netflix this Weekend

It is a testament to the size and fragmentation of the streaming landscape that I, someone who both likes the work of Pamuk and also follows book news for a living, did not know that an adaptation of The Museum of Innocence was releasing on Netflix this weekend. A signal adaptation can do wonders for a writer’s profile, but this piece about the long road to get to this adaptation made shows that Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature, cared more about having a good adaptation rather than just getting one out at all. You can check out the trailer for The Museum of Innocence here.

Rebecca and I power rank the 10 most important, influential, and otherwise impactful books of 2016. How things have changed.

The post Harlequin Ending Historical Fiction Line appeared first on Our Story Insight.

September 12, 2025, 11:00am

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction. Then ten titles were selected from a pool of 434 books submitted for consideration by their publishers. This year’s judges for Fiction are Rumaan Alam (Chair), Debra Magpie Earling, Attica Locke, Elizabeth McCracken, and Cody Morrison.

The finalists in all categories will be announced on Tuesday, October 7, and the winners revealed at the 76th National Book Awards Ceremony on November 19.

In the meantime, here’s the longlist:

Rabih Alameddine, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)
Grove Press / Grove Atlantic

Susan Choi, Flashlight
Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers

Angela Flournoy, The Wilderness
Mariner Books / HarperCollins Publishers

Jonas Hassen Khemiri, The Sisters
Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers

Megha Majumdar, A Guardian and a Thief
Knopf / Penguin Random House

Kevin Moffett, Only Son
McSweeney’s

Karen Russell, The Antidote
Knopf / Penguin Random House

Ethan Rutherford, North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther
A Strange Object / Deep Vellum Publishing

Bryan Washington, Palaver
Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers

Joy Williams, The Pelican Child
Knopf / Penguin Random House

Like this:

Like Loading…

The post Here’s the longlist for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction. ‹ appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Book Riot Editorial is made up of passionate readers, writers, and book lovers dedicated to delivering insightful book recommendations, literary analysis, and the latest in book culture. With expertise spanning multiple genres and a deep understanding of the publishing industry, we offer thoughtful commentary, book deals, and news that matters to readers. Whether it’s uncovering hidden gems, analyzing literary trends, or championing diverse voices, Book Riot’s editorial team is here to keep you informed and inspired.

View All posts by Community

Awards season is upon us, and all week long, the National Book Award judges will be releasing their 2025 longlists across five categories. These are among the most prestigious honors bestowed upon books in a given year. The National Book Award began in 1936 by the American Booksellers Association, took a break during World War II, and then resumed under the leadership of several collaborating book industry organizations in 1950. A few decades later, the National Book Foundation took over, with the goal of ensuring these books are not only honored but that their impact is felt across the country in a real, meaningful way.

The National Book Award honor books written by U.S. authors for books published in the United States. The five categories include Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. Starting in 2013, the Foundation elected to present a longlist in each category, composed of ten titles and released in September. Those longlists are whittled down to a shortlist and shared in October, as a run-up to the awards, which are presented in November at the National Book Award Ceremony and Dinner. Finalists each take home $1,000, while the winner in each category received $10,000 and a bronze sculpture.

This morning, the National Book Award presented their Longlist for Fiction. Eight of the honorees this year have earned such recognition before, and the range of fiction includes two debut authors and one short story collection.

The ten longlist titles for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction are:

Unusual Suspects

Sign up to Unusual Suspects to receive news and recommendations for mystery/thriller readers.

Judges for Fiction include Chair Rumaan Alam, Debra Magpie Earling, Attica Locke, Elizabeth McCracken, and Cody Morrison.

More information about the National Book Award Longlist for Fiction is available on their website. You can check out the rest of the Award Longlists for Young People’s Literature, Translated Literature, Nonfiction, and Poetry.

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.

The post The 2025 National Book Award Longlist for Fiction appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

The National Book Awards Fiction Longlist Is In!

The Fiction longlist is in and I’m patting myself on the back because two of the books I selected for my Book Riot podcast fantasy league made the cut (I’ll share what those are below). These books–some of which release later in the year–are and will be everywhere. I already have a copy of Angela Flournoy’s newest coming to me and there was buzz around it before the Fiction list was out, so I had a feeling I’d be seeing it today. With all of the lists out, I’ll share my predictions for the win in each category and my reasoning on Monday. Without further ado, here are the books on the National Book Awards Fiction longlist:

The Most Disorienting Book of 2025 is Getting Adapted

If you judge your “It” books by adaptation action alone, I’m here to let you know that a book we already knew fell into that category is both being adapted and has some high profile celebrity involvement. Lucy Liu and Charles Melton are attached to star in an adaptation of Katie Kitamura’s Audition. When I saw that Laika is involved, I thought, That’s a fittingly weird choice for this book, because I associate the film studio with stop motion animation films like Coraline and ParaNorman. Variety reports that the film, directed by Lulu Wang (The Farewell), will be live-action. I am chin-hands about how they’re going to adapt this for film. This was my first Kitamura and I went in not knowing what to expect. I am still disoriented and its experimental narrative style makes it a divisive read even as it is firmly a critical success.

Today In Books

Sign up to Today In Books to receive daily news and miscellany from the world of books.

Kwame Alexander and First Book Bring Us a ‘Literacy Pep Rally’

Kwame Alexander and First Book will present a 30-minute, nationwide Literacy Pep Rally on September 16 at 1 p.m. ET. The Newbery Medalist and author of The Crossover will team up with the community-oriented educational resource through Alexander’s literacy nonprofit, One Word at a Time. It sounds like a great time with stories, games, and conversation, plus, Alexander will announce a series of virtual author visits with big names in kidlit like Erin Entrada Kelly and Grace Lin. Register and find more info here.

In this, the year 2025, attaching the word “Freedom” to anything coming from this administration tells me a whole lot about what to expect. The IMLS announced mobile exhibits that will travel the country sharing the story of America’s founding for this country’s 250th birthday next year, but Kelly Jensen breaks down the press release to reveal the propaganda behind these Freedom Trucks.

The comments section is moderated according to our community guidelines. Please check them out so we can maintain a safe and supportive community of readers!

The post The Longlisted Fiction Books Everyone Will Be Talking About appeared first on Our Story Insight.

June 18, 2025, 11:35am

Ursula K. Le Guin Foundation has announced the shortlist for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, which awards $25,000 each year to the author of a book who best represents the legendary writer’s literary, moral, and aesthetic ideals: “realists of a larger reality, who can imagine real grounds for hope and see alternatives to how we live now.”

The eight books on the shortlist were chosen by the Foundation after a public voting process; the recipient of this year’s prize will be chosen by a panel consisting of authors Matt Bell, Indra Das, Kelly Link, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Roanhorse.

The winner will be announced on October 21st, which is Le Guin’s birthday. In the meantime, here’s the shortlist:

Vajra Chandrasekera, Rakesfall
(Tordotcom Publishing)

Andrea Hairston, Archangels of Funk
(Tordotcom Publishing)

Nalo Hopkinson, Blackheart Man
(Saga Press)

Margaret Killjoy, The Sapling Cage
(Feminist Press)

Jared Pechaček, The West Passage
(Tordotcom Publishing)

Nghi Vo, The City in Glass
(Tordotcom Publishing)

Ursula Whitcher, North Continent Ribbon
(Neon Hemlock)

Eden Robins, Remember You Will Die
(Sourcebooks Landmark)

Like this:

Like Loading…

The post Here’s the shortlist for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. ‹ appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel, Karen Russell’s The Antidote, and Torrey Peters’ Stag Dance all feature among the best reviewed fiction titles of the month.

Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s home for book reviews.

*

Fiction

1. The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
(Pantheon)

8 Rave • 6 Positive • 1 Mixed
Read an excerpt from The Dream Hotel here

“Powerful, richly conceived … Lalami skates along at the height of her powers as a writer of intelligent, complex characters … Although it relies on a speculative technology for its plot, The Dream Hotel is astounding, elegantly constructed, character-driven fiction.”

–Anita Felicelli (The Los Angeles Times)

2. Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
(Random House)

11 Rave • 1 Mixed

“Peters excels at plumbing the murky hearts of queer people … A great Torrey Peters story feels like punching yourself in the face, laughing at the bleeding bitch in the mirror and then shamefacedly realizing you’re aroused by the blood on your lips. The four pieces in Stag Dance will leave you bruised, broken and wanting more.”

–Hugh Ryan (The New York Times Book Review)

3. The Antidote by Karen Russell
(Knopf)

9 Rave • 3 Positive • 1 Mixed • 1 Pan
Read an interview with Karen Russell here

“Russell constructed a novel underpinned by an elaborate embroidery of social, geological, historical, and environmental research on the impact of American Western expansion … She effortlessly weaves in other characters whose unique gifts shed light on the lacunae of history … If this sounds like a dense novel, you’re only halfway right. The book is threaded with more subplots and histories as well as characters than I can elaborate upon here. However, her sharp narrative grasp guides the reader from character to character as the book unfolds. Russell’s vivid characters retain an element of mystery, which speaks to the novel’s larger point.”

–Lauren LeBlanc (The Los Angeles Times)

4. Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Kristen Arnett
(Riverhead)

7 Rave • 5 Positive
Read an excerpt from Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One here

“Wild, luxurious and absurd is also a killer (clown) description of Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One, a novel in which Arnett’s craft and her comedy are on full and feral display.”

–Annie Berke (The Washington Post)

5. Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah
(Riverhead)

8 Rave • 2 Positive • 1 Mixed

“There’s something almost disorienting about Gurnah’s narrative as he moves from one person to the next, willfully thwarting our desire to settle on a protagonist … Delicate … Karim develops into a dashing, volcanic, morally compromised character who catches the eye. But Gurnah’s heart—and ours—lies elsewhere in this novel. Writing a story around a young man as subtle and apparently insignificant as Badar is a kind of argument about the value of true character.”

–Ron Charles (The Washington Post)

The post March’s Best Reviewed Fiction ‹ appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

24 New York Times-Recommended Fiction Books for Spring

Spring is right around the corner! Time to make some decisions about which books you’re going to take outside while you breathe in that fresh, verdant air. If you need an assist with your seasonal TBR, The Times has a list of 24 novels to look forward to. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping, is bound to be a bestseller, I’m looking forward to reading Tilt by Emma Pattee (full disclosure, I know her, but as you can see I’m not the only one excited about this book), The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones is also on this horror fan’s list, as are Ocean Vuong’s much-anticipated The Emperor of Gladness, and Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory. This list is a great reminder that we’re set up for a sensational season of reading.

We Need Diverse Books Inaugural Reading Day!

Well this is the fun and uplifting news I needed at the end of an exhausting week. The esteemed and hardworking team over at We Need Diverse Books is organizing a day to celebrate diverse books and reading. Readers are encouraged to pick up books by people from marginalized communities on April 3rd. As many voices from the WNDB team, including Dhonielle Clayton (Blackout) and Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist), message, it’s important to make sure diverse books are on those shelves because everyone stands to benefit from reading books that represent the underrepresented. WNDB will be posting resources on how to find diverse books and will provide a diverse book to an underresourced school for every $10 donated. Schools and readers could use all the help they can get these days. Check out this article for more information on why diverse books are important and how you can participate.

Today In Books Newsletter

Sign up to Today In Books to receive daily news and miscellany from the world of books.

Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.

Level up your reading life while you support an independent media resource! Become an All Access member and explore our full library of exclusive bonus content and community features. Sign up now for only $6/month!

This Spicy Meta Tell-All Book Just Got Spicier

Yes, Meta won an emergency arbitration ruling against a former employee to stop her from promoting her tell-all book exposing some ugly inner workings of the social media company, but when I picture winning, this is not what I see. Early reviews of Sarah Wynn-Williams’ Careless People have made it very clear that this is a no-holds-barred kind of exposé with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and other current and former heads of the social media company coming out fully scathed. The thing about this ruling is that it does not appear to prevent the book’s publisher, Macmillan, from moving forward with publication and promotion. And I don’t know about you, but I’m even more curious about what’s on these pages than I was a moment ago. One has to laugh reading this statement posted by a Meta spokesperson to Threads, “This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams’ false and defamatory book should never have been published.” Like, who is that even written for?

The Most Read Books on Goodreads

There’s a new top-five title in town! The Empyrean series is holding fast at the head of the most-read books on Goodreads, but an Elsie Silver romance has made the list this week. You can also find a couple of new release highlights, including a book about a unified society of humans and robots, and one that “questions how technology, privacy, and freedom can coexist.”

The comments section is moderated according to our community guidelines. Please check them out so we can maintain a safe and supportive community of readers!

The post NEW YORK TIMES Most Anticipated Spring Fiction Books appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Below are the five finalists.

Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda

Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj

James by Percival Everett

Small Rain by Garth Greenwell

Colored Television by Danzy Senna

The 45th Annual PEN/Faulkner Award Celebration will take place at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., on May 15 this year. It will feature presentations by PEN/Faulkner judges, original readings by the winner and finalists, and a celebration of this year’s PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion, Dr. Carla Hayden.

The winner of the prize will receive $15,000, while each of the finalists gets $5,000.

To learn more about the finalists and the award, visit PEN/Faulkner.

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.

The post 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Finalists Announced appeared first on Our Story Insight.