October 14th, 2025 — Happy Publication Day to Megha Majumdar‘s (CRF 2024) A Guardian and a Thief (Knopf)! Megha’s latest novel—a finalist for the 2025 National Book Award and the 2025 Kirkus Prize—is set in a near-future Kolkata, India, ravaged by climate change and food scarcity, in which two families seeking to protect their children must battle each other. The book has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and BookPage and has been called “A true literary achievement,” by The New York Times Book Review. This is the second time Megha has been nominated for a National Book Award in fiction after her novel A Burning was longlisted in 2020. Of Civitella, she writes, “It was an experience of a lifetime: Civitella allowed me time and space to think, it nourished my mind and spirit.”
We’re thrilled to celebrate this release with Megha tonight at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. RSVP to attend in person here. The 76th National Book Awards Ceremony will take place on November 19th in New York City, livestreamed for readers everywhere here.