The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist

The judges for the category this year are Brenda J. Child, the author of several books about American Indian history; Anand Giridharadas, the author of “The Persuaders”; Tressie McMillan Cottom, a New York Times columnist and the author of “Thick: And Other Essays”; Timothy Morton, the author of “Hell: In Search of a Christian Ecology”; and Arvin Ramgoolam, the co-owner of Townie Books and Rumors Coffee and Tea House, in Crested Butte, Colorado.

Poetry

Nine of the ten poets on this year’s longlist are being honored by the National Book Awards for the first time. Some of their works seek the remarkable in the mundane (Anne Carson’s “Wrong Norma”; Dorianne Laux’s “Life on Earth”). Others meditate on the atrocity of war (Fady Joudah’s “[…]”) or interrogate the history of the United States (Elizabeth Willis’s “Liontaming in America”). Still others reflect on the role of poets in making sense of the world (Diane Seuss’s “Modern Poetry”). One nominee, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, has been long-listed before, in 2015, for his poetry collection “Heaven.”

Anne Carson, “Wrong Norma”
New Directions

Fady Joudah, “[…]”
Milkweed Editions

Dorianne Laux, “Life on Earth”
W. W. Norton & Company

Gregory Pardlo, “Spectral Evidence”
Knopf / Penguin Random House

Rowan Ricardo Phillips, “Silver”
Farrar, Straus & Giroux / Macmillan

Octavio Quintanilla, “The Book of Wounded Sparrows”
Texas Review Press

m.s. RedCherries, “mother”
Penguin / Penguin Random House

Diane Seuss, “Modern Poetry”
Graywolf

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, “Something About Living”
University of Akron

Elizabeth Willis, “Liontaming in America”
New Directions

The judges for the category this year are Richard Blanco, the fifth inaugural poet; Carolyn Forché, whose memoir, “What You Have Heard Is True,” was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award; Tyehimba Jess, the author of two books of poetry, “Leadbelly” and “Olio”; Aimee Nezhukumatathil, the author of the essay collection “World of Wonders”; and Rena Priest, Washington State’s sixth poet laureate.

Translated Literature

The ten books on this year’s longlist were originally published in six different languages: Arabic, Danish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Swedish. Several consider political violence and memory. Others use satire to invert reality. One author, Samar Yazbek, and three translators—Leri Price, Sophie Hughes, and Heather Cleary—have been recognized by the National Book Awards before.

Nasser Abu Srour, “The Tale of a Wall: Reflections on the Meaning of Hope and Freedom”
Translated from the Arabic by Luke Leafgren
Other Press

Bothayna Al-Essa, “The Book Censor’s Library”
Translated from the Arabic by Sawad Hussain and Ranya Abdelrahman
Restless

Linnea Axelsson, “Ædnan”
Translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel
Knopf / Penguin Random House

Solvej Balle, “On the Calculation of Volume” (Book I)
Translated from the Danish by Barbara J. Haveland
New Directions

Layla Martínez, “Woodworm”
Translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott
Two Lines

Fiston Mwanza Mujila, “The Villain’s Dance”
Translated from the French by Roland Glasser
Deep Vellum / Deep Vellum Publishing

Fernanda Trías, “Pink Slime”
Translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary
Scribner / Simon & Schuster

Fernando Vallejo, “The Abyss”
Translated from the Spanish by Yvette Siegert
New Directions

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, “Taiwan Travelogue”
Translated from the Mandarin Chinese by Lin King
Graywolf

Samar Yazbek, “Where the Wind Calls Home”
Translated from the Arabic by Leri Price
World Editions