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Awards season is upon us, and all week long, the National Book Award judges will be releasing their 2025 longlists across five categories. These are among the most prestigious honors bestowed upon books in a given year. The National Book Awards began in 1936 by the American Booksellers Association, took a break during World War II, and then resumed under the leadership of several collaborating book industry organizations in 1950. A few decades later, the National Book Foundation took over, with the goal of ensuring these books are not only honored but that their impact is felt across the country in a real, meaningful way.
The National Book Awards honor books written by U.S. authors for books published in the United States. The five categories include Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. Starting in 2013, the Foundation elected to present a longlist in each category, composed of ten titles and released in September. Those longlists are whittled down to a shortlist and shared in October, as a run-up to the awards, which are presented in November at the National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner. Finalists each take home $1,000, while the winner in each category receives $10,000 and a bronze sculpture.
This morning, the National Book Awards presented their Longlist for Translated Literature. It is a bounty of excellent reading, featuring an array of books first published in Danish, Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Uzbek, and more.
The ten longlisted titles for the 2025 National Book Award for Translated Literature are:
On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) by Solvej Balle, translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
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The Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera and translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney
We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers
The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from the Dutch by David McKay
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton
We Computers: A Ghazal Novel by Hamid Ismailov, translated from the Uzbek by Shelley Fairweather-Vega
We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris
Sleep Phase by Mohamed Kheir, translated from the Arabic by Robin Moger
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated from the Italian by Sophie Hughes
Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer
More information about the National Book Awards is available on their website. Keep your eyes peeled for the rest of the longlists this week!
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.