The winners of the 2025 National Book Awards were announced Wednesday evening at a ceremony in New York hosted by Emmy Award–winning actor and author Jeff Hiller with musical performances by special guest Corrine Bailey Rae.
Rabih Alameddine won the fiction award for The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), published by Grove. A Kirkus critic called the novel, about a retired teacher living with his elderly mother in a cramped Beirut apartment, a “sharp exploration of resilience in dark times.”
Omar El Akkad won the nonfiction award for One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, published by Knopf. A Kirkus critic called the book, a reflection on power and powerlessness occasioned by the war in Gaza, a “philosophically rich critique of state violence and mass apathy.”
Patricia Smith won the poetry award for The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems, published by Scribner. “Lyrical and sly, meditative and volcanic, The Intentions of Thunder stunningly explores the fullness of living,” according to the National Book Foundation.
The award for translated literature went to We Are Green and Trembling, written by Argentine novelist Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated by Robin Myers, and published by New Directions. The National Book Foundation calls the novel, about the adventures of an escaped nun transformed into a conquistador in the New World, a “surreal picaresque rich with wildly imaginative language and searing critique of subjugation, colonialism, and tyranny of all kinds.”
The award for young people’s literature was presented to Daniel Nayeri for his middle-grade novel The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story, published by Levine Querido. In a starred review, a Kirkus critic called the book, about two children orphaned during the 1941 Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, a “compelling testament to the power of education and empathy to light the way in even the most perilous circumstances.”
Two special lifetime achievement awards, both previously announced, were presented as well. Roxane Gay, author and founder of the Roxane Gay Books imprint at Grove Atlantic, received the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. The Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was awarded to George Saunders, author of Tenth of December, Lincoln in the Bardo, and other titles.
Tom Beer is the editor-in-chief.
