Watch the 2024 National Book Awards Finalist Reading

Each year, the Finalists in Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature gather the evening before the National Book Awards Ceremony to read excerpts from their honored works.

The 2024 National Book Awards Finalist Reading is on Tuesday, November 19 at 7:00pm EST, and will be hosted by Brittany Luse, award–winning journalist, cultural critic, and the host of It’s Been a Minute from NPR.

The event will be presented in person at NYU Skirball and livestreamed.

Presented in partnership with the NYU Creative Writing Program.

To learn more about the 2024 National Book Awards Finalists, click here.

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

(Finalists will not appear in this order. For select Finalists unable to attend, a literary luminary will read on their behalf.)

HOSTED BY BRITTANY LUSE

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.

The 75th National Book Awards Ceremony will be broadcast live on November 20, 2024 at 8:00pm ET. Sign up to watch, receive updates about the upcoming ceremony, and discover this year’s Winners in real-time.