Updated October 14th, 2025 — Congratulations to our four Civitella Fellows on the final, short-, and long-lists of this year’s National Book Awards, announced by The New Yorker in September. Their inclusion across multiple categories highlights the breadth and vitality of work emerging from our global community of artists and writers.
Fiction Finalist
Megha Majumdar (CRF 2024), A Guardian and a Thief (Knopf / Penguin Random House)
Poetry Finalists
Gabrielle Calvocoressi (CRF 2010), The New Economy (Copper Canyon Press)
Patricia Smith (CRF 2017), The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems (Scribner / Simon & Schuster).
Nonfiction Longlist
Lana Lin (CRF 2003), The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam (Dorothy)
The National Book Awards, presented annually by the National Book Foundation, celebrate the most distinguished works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature published in the United States. To see so many members of our community recognized among this year’s nominees is both an honor and a testament to the ongoing impact of time and reflection at the Castle. The 76th National Book Awards Ceremony will take place on November 19th in New York City, livestreamed for readers everywhere here. Each year, the Finalists in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature gather the evening before the Ceremony to read excerpts from their honored works. The 2025 National Book Awards Finalist Reading will be in person at NYU Skirball and livestreamed at nationalbook.org/awards. Register here.