The National Book Critics Circle Awards’ First Longlist for Poetry
For the first time in the history of the National Book Critics Circle Awards—the only literary awards in the United States that are judged by critics—the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is sharing their longlists ahead of the award ceremony on March 20, 2025.
NBCC president, Heather Scott Partington, said “The NBCC is proud to release our longlists for the first time in our 50 year history. Revealing them allows us to honor more writers, translators, and books than we ever have in a single year.”
NBCC officials have also shared that sharing the longlists is a way to celebrate the awards’ 50th anniversary.
The National Book Critics Circle Awards’ First Longlist for Poetry is as follows:
An Authentic Life by Jennifer Chang Cloud Missives by Kenzie Allen
Consider the Rooster by Oliver Baez Bendorf
A Gaze Hound That Hunteth by the Eye by V. Penelope Pelizzon
Instructions for the Lovers by Dawn Lundy Martin
The Palace of Forty Pillars by Armen Davoudian
Scattered Snows, to the North by Carl Phillips
Sturge Town by Kwame Dawes
Wrong Norma by Anne Carson
Yard Show by Janice N. Harrington
Since December 16th, the NBCC has been sharing other longlists before it made its way to Poetry. To learn more about the NBCC and the other longlists, visit Bookcritics.org or People.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.
More breaking news here
- The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week
- New York City’s Most Popular Library Checkouts of 2024
- TIME’s Most-Anticipated Books of 2025
- The Most Anticipated Books of 2025, According to Goodreads
- The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week
- The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists
- Innovative Study by UPenn and NYPL Finds That Public Libraries Positively Impact Community Health and Well-Being
- The 10 Worst Book-to-Screen Adaptations
- The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week