Meet the finalists for the 2022 National Book Awards

Introducing the finalists for the 2022 National Book Awards!

These books are each still under consideration for their genre's grand prize — praise and $10,000, to be handed out at a ceremony November 16.

(Miss the shortlists? Here there are by category: fiction, poetry, young people's literature, translated literature, and nonfiction.) 

Fiction

• The Rabbit Hutch, by Tess Gunty

• The Birdcatcher, by Gayl Jones

• The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, by Jamil Jan Kochai

• All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews

• The Town of Babylon, by Alejandro Varela

Nonfiction 

• The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness, by Meghan O’Rourke

• South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, by Imani Perry

• Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus, by David Quammen

• The Man Who Could Move Clouds: A Memoir, by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

• His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice, by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa 

Poetry 

• Look at This Blue, by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke

• Punks: New & Selected Poems, by John Keene

• Balladz, by Sharon Olds

• Best Barbarian, by Roger Reeves

• The Rupture Tense, by Jenny Xie

Translated literature 

• A New Name: Septology VI-VII, written by Jon Fosse and translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls

• Kibogo, written by Scholastique Mukasonga and translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti

• Jawbone, written by Mónica Ojeda and translated from the Spanish by Sarah Booker

• Seven Empty Houses, written by Samanta Schweblin and translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell

• Scattered All Over the Earth, written by Yoko Tawada and translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani

Young people's literature 

• The Ogress and the Orphans, by Kelly Barnhill

• The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, by Sonora Reyes

• Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist For Justice, by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile

• All My Rage, by Sabaa Tahir

• Maizy Chen’s Last Chance, by Lisa Yee

Next month's ceremony will also include two lifetime achievement awards: one for Maus author Art Spiegelman and one for Tracie D. Hall, the first African American woman to serve as the American Library Association's executive director.

Related posts 

• Congratulations to the 2021 National Book Award winners! 

• Congratulations to the 2020 National Book Award winners!