We love literary awards here at For Reading Addicts and they always offer great inspiration for the TBR. The 2016 National Book Awards is now down to 20 books, that’s five finalists in each of the categories of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young people’s literature.

This year’s shortlist is a good mix of established authors and poets and newcomers to the scene. The winners will be announced in New York on November 16th and each winner will receive a medal, a statue, and $10,000.

Already announced is the Lifetime achievement award, given to Robert A. Caro for distinguished contribution to American Letters. Here are the remaining finalists with emphasis on that big fiction award.

Fiction:

Chris Bachelder – The Throwback Special

The Throwback Special is a moving and comic tale filled with pitch-perfect observations about manhood, marriage, middle age, and the rituals we all enact as part of being alive.

The Throwback Special US
The Throwback Special UK

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Paulette Jiles – News of the World

News of the World is a historical tale set in Texas in 1870, richly written the novel explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, and trust.

News of the World US
News of the World UK

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Karan Mahajan – The Association of Small Bombs

The Association of Small Bombs is a contemporary tale of the biggest fear of many of us, and the affect on terrorism on both victims and perpetrators.

The Association of Small Bombs US
The Association of Small Bombs UK

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Colson Whitehead – The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad is salvation to many, including Cara, a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. This is a powerful historical novel, recreating the horrors of the pre-Civil War era.

The Underground Railroad US
The Underground Railroad UK

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Jacqueline Woodson – Another Brooklyn

In Another Brooklyn a chance meeting with an old friend catapults August back to the 1970s when friendship meant everything, until it meant nothing.

Another Brooklyn US
Another Brooklyn UK

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Non-Fiction

Arlie Russell Hochschild – Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

Ibram X. Kendi – Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Viet Thanh Nguyen – Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War

Andrés Reséndez – The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America

Heather Ann Thompson – Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy

Poetry

Daniel Borzutzky – The Performance of Becoming Human

Rita Dove – Collected Poems 1974 – 2004

Peter Gizzi – Archeophonics

Jay Hopler – The Abridged History of Rainfall

Solmaz Sharif – Look

Young People’s Literature

Kate DiCamillo – Raymie Nightingale

John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell – March: Book Three

Grace Lin – When the Sea Turned to Silver

Jason Reynolds – Ghost

Nicola Yoon – The Sun Is Also a Star