The National Book Foundation and the NYU Creative Writing Program present readings by each of the 2024 National Book Award Finalists.
The 2024 National Book Awards Finalist Reading will be hosted by Brittany Luse, award–winning journalist, cultural critic, and the host of It’s Been a Minute from NPR.
Each year, the Finalists in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature gather the evening before the National Book Awards Ceremony to read excerpts from their honored works.
The event will be presented in person at NYU Skirball and livestreamed. If you’re unable to attend in person, please register for the livestream on the National Book Foundation’s website.
Doors open at 6:30pm, and the program begins at 7:00pm EST.
To learn more about the 2024 National Book Awards Finalists and to support the year-round work of the National Book Foundation, please visit nationalbook.org/awards.
Presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation and the NYU Creative Writing Program.
Finalists
Fiction Finalists:
‘Pemi Aguda, Ghostroots
Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!
Percival Everett, James
Miranda July, All Fours
Hisham Matar, My Friends
Nonfiction Finalists:
Jason De León, Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling
Eliza Griswold, Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American
Church
Kate Manne, Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia
Salman Rushdie, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder
Deborah Jackson Taffa, Whiskey Tender
Poetry Finalists:
Anne Carson, Wrong Norma
Fady Joudah, […]
m.s. RedCherries, mother
Diane Seuss, Modern Poetry
Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Something About Living
Translated Literature Finalists:
Bothayna Al-Essa, and translators Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain, The Book
Censor’s Library
Linnea Axelsson and translator Saskia Vogel, Ædnan
Fiston Mwanza Mujila, and translator Roland Glasser, The Villain’s Dance
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translator Lin King, Taiwan Travelogue
Samar Yazbek and translator Leri Price, Where the Wind Calls Home
Young People’s Literature Finalists:
Violet Duncan, Buffalo Dreamer
Josh Galarza, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky
Erin Entrada Kelly, The First State of Being
Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Kareem Between
Angela Shanté, The Unboxing of a Black Girl
ABOUT THE HOST:
Brittany Luse is an award–winning journalist, on-air host, and cultural critic. She is currently the host of It’s Been a Minute, a podcast and nationally syndicated radio show from NPR. Previously, Luse hosted For Colored Nerds, The Nod, and Sampler podcasts, and co-hosted and executive produced The Nod with Brittany and Eric, a daily streaming show. She’s written for Vulture and Harper’s Bazaar, among others, and edited for the podcasts Planet Money and Not Past It. Luse and her work have been profiled by publications like the New York Times, The New Yorker and Teen Vogue.
Please email Emily Lovett at elovett@nationalbook.org with any questions and accessibility requests.
