The National Book Awards have revealed their young people’s literature longlist, with 10 books in contention for the annual literary prize.
Chanel Miller was longlisted for The Moon Without Stars. Elana K. Arnold was nominated for Holloway; the author previously was a finalist for the award in 2017 for What Girls Are Made Of. Also making the longlist was The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America by David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels; Levithan was also longlisted in 2013 for Two Boys Kissing.
Delali Adjoa was longlisted for The Free Verse Society, alongside T.A. Chan for The Celestial Seas, Tae Keller for When Tomorrow Burns, and Keala Kendall for That Which Feeds Us: A Hawaiian Gothic.
Also making the longlist were Eric Darnell Pritchard and Shannon Wright for Clothes To Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams; Julian Randall for Shook; and Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr for Life on the Moon.
The judges for this year’s prize are Edith Campbell, Brandy Colbert, Tricia Ebarvia, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, and Anne Ursu.
Previous winners of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature include Louis Sachar for Holes, Jacqueline Woodson for Brown Girl Dreaming, and Daniel Nayeri for The Teacher of Nomad Land.
The shortlist for this year’s prize will be revealed on Oct. 6, with the winner announced at a ceremony in New York on Nov. 18.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
