Book Critics Begin Annual Awards Reading Marathons

Ready, set, read!

Each year, the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), an all-volunteer organization of international book critics, honors eight books with its annual book awards. The longlists, shortlists, and winners for six categories—Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism—are selected by the organization’s board. For the other two categories—First Book and Translation—the finalists are selected by the board with input from the membership, and the winners are selected by committees of members who volunteer for the task.

It’s a big task.

Critics reading for either the 2025 John Leonard Prize for the best first book or the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize will have to read six books to vote for the winner of that award. Critics reading for both awards will have to read twelve books.

The deadline?

Eight weeks.

Critics who’ve already read some or all of the books have an easier lift. For those who haven’t read ahead, the lift this year is 2,004 pages for the Leonard and 1,088 pages for the Barrios. For those reading for both awards, the total is 3,092 pages. Those totals may include poetry (fewer words per page) or endnotes and indices (not normally read in full) for nonfiction. Regardless, this reading is in addition to all the other reading critics do to write their reviews.

Unlike the six categories managed by the board, the Leonard and Barrios are genre agnostic, which means books in any genre can compete as long as they were published in the U.S. in English in 2025 and meet other criteria. This approach gives committee members an opportunity to consider a selection of first books or books in translation across multiple genres.

This year’s finalists for the Leonard are:

Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (Biography)

Crown by Evanthia Bromiley (Fiction)

Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton (Fiction)

Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly (Nonfiction)

Salvage by Hedgie Choi (Poetry)

The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (Fiction)

This year’s finalists for the Barrios are:

Exophony: Voyages Outside the Mother Tongue by Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda (Nonfiction)

Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from the Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi (Fiction)

Near Distance by Hanna Stoltenberg, translated from the Norwegian by Wendy H. Gabrielsen (Fiction)

Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer (Nonfiction)

The Frog in the Throat by Markus Werner, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann (Fiction)

The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken (Fiction)

Committee members receive free PDFs of the books from their publishers as a courtesy for awards consideration. These PDFs cannot be shared with other readers. Critics can also choose to forgo the PDFs and instead read printed or digital copies of the books that they obtain on their own elsewhere, such as from booksellers or public libraries.

During the eight-week reading period, some committee members choose to keep their pinions to themselves while others elect to participate in Slack channels or Zoom calls organized by the committee chairs so that members can share their thoughts with one another. These deliberations are confidential.

Voting for the Leonard and Barrios takes place in late March. The winners of all eight awards will be announced March 26, 2026, in New York. The awards ceremony is free and open to the public (tickets reserved in advance are required) and will be livestreamed.

Let the reading begin! #

Marcie Geffner is a journalist, writer, and book critic in Ventura, California, and an active member of the National Book Critics Circle. Last year, she participated in the judging committee for the Gregg Barrios prize. This year, she is participating in the committee for the John Leonard prize. Her Substack, “Mostly Books,” publishes book reviews and recommendations and occasional essays. Subscribers can access the full archives and join book discussions on the Substack app.

Enjoyed this story? Support “Mostly Books” at Buy Me a Coffee and Bookshop.org!