2024 National Book Award Longlist for Fiction

Ten Contenders for the National Book Award for Fiction

The National Book Foundation made the announcement today Longlist for 2024 National Book Award fiction. The five category finalists will be revealed on Tuesday, October 1 New York Times; Winners will be announced live at 75^m National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.

The 2024 Fiction Longlist includes authors at all stages of their careers and includes three debut novels and one debut short story collection. Two authors on the fiction longlist have previously been honored by the National Book Foundation: Carla Cornejo Villavicencio Was a 2020 finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction Undocumented Americans; And Rachel Kushner Was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2008 Telex from Cuba And in 2013 The Flamethrowers.

These ten Longlisters include Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts Fellows. This year's honored fiction writers have been recognized by many other awards and honors, including the Booker Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award., National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, O. Henry Award, Penn/Faulkner Award, Penn/Jean Stein Award, Wyndham Campbell Award and Whiting Award. Placed in their writings donation, Harper's Magazine, n + 1, race, The New Republic, The New Yorkerthe The New York Times, The Paris Review, enjoyingand elsewhere.

In their latest novels, the two authors reinvented the genre and expanded the canon of American literature. Percival EverettIts re-imagining The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Centers on Jim, a slave fugitive who was cast as a mild-mannered companion in Mark Twain's original. As Jim and Huck travel down the Mississippi River, readers see the world through James' perspective—as he adjusts his language, behavior, and appearance both to please the white people around him and to preserve his own life. James Considers the potential for authoritarian intent and agency, even in the most racialized and unequal contexts. Outside the United States, Rachel Kushner Introduces readers to “Sadie Smith”—a 34-year-old undercover agent and American expat who is recruited to infiltrate a group of radical French environmentalists. A nonbeliever among believers, Sadie is at the center of a community and remains fiercely independent even as her employers raise the stakes. Part espionage and part existential thriller, creation lake Deep dives into the world of ideology, environmental activism, and ultimately, the nature of identity.

Two longlisted debut novels follow protagonists determined to forge their own paths. Catalina by Carla Cornejo Villavicencio Follows fiercely independent and academic overachiever Catalina Ituralde as she navigates complex family dynamics at home, micro-aggressions in and out of the classroom, and her grandfather's dire threat of deportation. As one undocumented Harvard student in his senior year course said, Catalina It is the moving story of a young writer intent on finding love and humor despite the uncertainty of his future. Sam SaxIts quirky, Jewish coming-of-age story follows Ezra as they set themselves on fire and die in a protest outside Trump Tower. The vignette states that the hero of the novel has loved everyone, every place they have ever felt accepted or rejected, and that is why they decide on this final act of suicide, Yar is dead An in-depth exploration of the history, memory and politics that shape our present and our future.

Two longlisted titles showcase short story collections that depict reality as something speculative. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, the narrators haunted' 12 stories reckon with everyday horrors: infidelity, mysterious illnesses, memories of a tragic accident, and the pain of seeing their loved ones deteriorate. Throughout this debut collection, 'Pemi is acute Sympathetically explores a cast of characters haunted by regret and the quest to rid themselves of the ghosts of their ancestors. Tony Tulathimutteof rejection Follows a cast of online characters constantly yearning for intimacy, approval and connection in real life While navigating repeated rejections—from dating apps and social media feeds to bedrooms and bars—the characters in these seven connected stories reveal the awkwardness, isolation, and occasional confusion of life and love in the Internet age.

As a child, Khaled Abd Al Hadi heard a short story on the radio that changed the course of his life, prompting him to move from his native Libya to Scotland to attend university. my friends by Hisham Matar Follows Khaled and two friends in exile in Britain as they come together over decades and wrestle with revolution, war and their loyalty to themselves and their homeland. Impending death haunts the debut novel Martyr!In which poet Cyrus Shams grapples with the losses that have engulfed his life—the death of his mother in a U.S. airstrike when he was a child, his and his father's migration from their native Iran to the American Midwest, and later his father's death from a stroke—Cyrus' own alcohol and Along with drug addiction recovery. As his obsession with the martyrs grows, Cyrus works to uncover his family's past, write a novel, and visit a terminally ill Iranian artist who is spending his last days in a Brooklyn museum. Kaveh AkbarReflections on grief, addiction, love, and finding hope and meaning in art.

This year's fiction longlist includes two titles that interrogate marriage, sexuality and the role of gender in art-making. On an unseasonably warm Sunday in November, housewife, mother and former tennis champion Kathleen Beckett donned her old, red bathing suit, waded into her apartment complex's semi-abandoned pool and refused to come out. set for eight hours, Jessica Anthonyof the maximum Paints an intimate portrait of marriage in the late 1950s—and the secrets, expectations, and lost love that tell the story of a seemingly unforgettable couple and a larger cultural moment. in All fourWhen an unnamed 45-year-old female artist travels from Los Angeles to New York City for a two-week writing retreat, she spontaneously cancels her plans and checks into a nondescript motel to spend time with a married 31-year-old, his wife. Taking charge of refurbishing her rented house, and daring to imagine a whole new way of living. Miranda July Tells the story of a woman—desperate at times—to reinvent her life and create art in the face of boredom, menopause, and death.

A total of 473 books have been submitted by publishers for the 2024 National Book Awards for Fiction. A judge of fiction Jamie Ford, Lauren Groff (chair), Zain Jokhader, Ask forAnd Reginald McKnight. The judges' decisions are made independently of the National Book Foundation staff and board of directors, and deliberations are strictly confidential. The judges' decisions are made independently of the National Book Foundation staff and board of directors, and deliberations are strictly confidential. For more information about 75^m To register for the National Book Awards ceremony and benefit dinner and broadcast, please visit nationalbook.org/awards.

2024 Longlist for National Book Award for Fiction:

'Pemi is acute, haunted
Norton / WW Norton & Company

Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!
Knopf/Penguin Random House

Jessica Anthony, the maximum
Little, Brown and Company / Hachette Book Group

Carla Cornejo Villavicencio, Catalina
One World / Penguin Random House

Percival Everett, James
Doubleday / Penguin Random House

Miranda July, All four
Riverhead Books / Penguin Random House

Rachel Kushner, creation lake
Scribner / Simon & Schuster

Hisham Matar, my friends
Random House/Penguin Random House

Sam Sax, Yar is dead
McSweeney's

Tony Tulathimutte, rejection
William Morrow / HarperCollins Publishers