The longlists for the 2022 National Book Awards (NBA) were announced on September 14–16. The awards are divided into five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature.
Among the judges for this year’s awards are Ben Fountain, Brandon Hobson, Pam Houston, Dana Johnson, and Michelle Malonzo for Fiction; Carol Anderson, Melissa Febos, Thor Hanson, Janet Webster Jones, and Oscar Villalon for Nonfiction; Kwame Dawes, Juan Felipe Herrera, Keetje Kuipers, January Gill O’Neil, and Mai Der Vang for Poetry; Nick Buzanski, Veronica Esposito, Ann Goldstein, Rohan Kamicheril, and Russell Scott Valentino for Translated Literature; and Becky Albertalli, Joseph Bruchac, Meghan Dietsche Goel, Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Lilliam Rivera for Young People’s Literature.
Here are the titles that have been longlisted:
Fiction
Eight of the ten books in this category are fiction debuts. Here’s the longlist:
- When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar
- Shutter by Ramona Emerson
- If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
- 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
- Nobody Gets Out Alive by Leigh Newman
- Maria, Maria: & Other Stories by Marytza K. Rubio
- The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela
Nonfiction
The longlist for nonfiction features memoirs, science writing, biographies of American political personalities, investigations of U.S. and worldwide history, and other books. With the exception of two authors, the bulk of the longlisted authors in this category are new to the National Book Awards and the National Book Foundation. Here are the nominees:
- Bright Unbearable Reality: Essays by Anna Badkhen
- Ted Kennedy: A Life by John A. Farrell
- Uncommon Measure: A Journey Through Music, Performance, and the Science of Time by Natalie Hodges
- Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands by Kelly Lytle Hernández
- 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
- Lost & Found: A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz
Poetry
Poets from all stages of their careers, including two poets with debut poetry collections, are included in this category. These are the collections that have been longlisted:
- Golden Ax by Rio Cortez
- Look at This Blue by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
- Still Life by Jay Hopler
- Punks: New & Selected Poems by John Keene
- Balladz by Sharon Olds
- Best Barbarian by Roger Reeves
- Mummy Eaters by Sherry Shenoda
- Duende by Quincy Troupe
- As She Appears by Shelley Wong
- The Rupture Tense by Jenny Xie
Translated Literature
The ten works in this category were first published in Arabic, Danish, French, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, and Spanish. Here are they:
- Ibn Arabi’s Small Death by Mohammed Hasan Alwan, translated from the Arabic by William M. Hutchins
- A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse, translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls
- Seasons of Purgatory by Shahriar Mandanipour, translated from the Persian by Sara Khalili
- Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti
- Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda, translated from the Spanish by Sarah Booker
- The Employees by Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken
- Seven Empty Houses by Samanta Schweblin, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell
- Where You Come From by Saša Stanišić, translated from the German by Damion Searls
- Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani
- The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft
Young People’s Literature
The nominees in this category include novels that “address gender and sexuality, racism and xenophobia, and self-esteem and self-acceptance.” Here are the titles that made the cut:
- The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
- The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum
- A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee
- Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas
- Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix by Anna-Marie McLemore
- 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
- Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution by Sherri Winston
- Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee
Twenty-five finalist books will be revealed on October 4, and the winners for each category will be unveiled on November 16 in New York City during an in-person awards event. Each winner will get $10,000, while each finalist will bag $1,000. For the Translated Literature award, the author and translator each receive an equal share of the prize money.
The National Book Awards, which were established in 1950, honor great works of writing by American authors. Writers who have received them include Philip Roth, Ursula K. Le Guin, Frank O’Hara, Jesmyn Ward, Colson Whitehead, and Elizabeth Acevedo among others.
Find more literary awards news in Breaking In Books, including 2022 Hugo Awards.
