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The 2017 National Book Award Finalists

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Forty books entered, 20 books came out: Here are the 2017 National Book Award finalists. American Street

Young People’s Literature

What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams-Garcia

American Street by Ibi Zoboi

The judges this year are:
  • Suzanna Hermans
  • Brendan Kiely
  • Kekla Magoon
  • Meg Medina
  • Alex Sanchez

    Poetry

    don't call us dead by danez smithHalf-Light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 by Frank Bidart

    The Book of Endings by Leslie Harrison

    Whereas by Layli Long Soldier

    In the Language of My Captor by Shane McCrae

    Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith

    The judges this year are:
    • Gregory Pardlo
    • Jane Mead
    • Nick Flynn
    • Monica Youn
    • Richard Siken
     

    Nonfiction

    the evangelicalsNever Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

    The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America by Frances FitzGerald

    The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen

    Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the F.B.I. by David Grann

    Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean

    The judges this year are: Steve Bercu Jeff Chang Paula J. Giddings Ruth Franklin Valeria Luiselli  

    Fiction

    sing unburied singDark at the Crossing by Elliot Ackerman The Leavers by Lisa Ko Pachinko by Min Jin Lee Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward The judges this year are:
    • Alexander Chee
    • Dave Eggers
    • Annie Philbrick
  • Karolina Waclawiak
  • Jacqueline Woodson   The winners will be announced on November 15th. Last week, the NBA Foundation also announced its picks for the 5 Under 35 award.