Barnes & Noble has revealed the 16 finalists for its 2026 Book of the Year award, shortlisting works across fiction, non-fiction and children’s literature by high-profile authors including Barbara Kingsolver, Colson Whitehead and Kathryn Stockett, per parade.com.
The selection process relies on nominations from booksellers at Barnes & Noble stores across the United States, who put forward titles they have actively championed throughout the year.
The overall winner will be chosen through a nationwide vote by store staff and announced on November 12.
Now in its eighth year, the award has previously recognised several titles that went on to achieve major critical and commercial success. Past winners include Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry, which was subsequently adapted into an Apple TV series, and Percival Everett’s James, which secured both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award.
James Daunt, Chief Executive of Barnes & Noble, credited the physical bookstore model and staff recommendations for driving reader engagement, noting that the annual award highlights the impact of individual curation in modern bookselling.
The 2026 shortlist features a diverse range of genres and formats. Fiction nominees include Partita by Barbara Kingsolver, Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead, The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett, Land by Maggie O’Farrell, Whale Harbor by Mary Beth Keane, Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, and This Is a Door by Daniel Nayeri.
Non-fiction finalists comprise Sleeping Beauties: Why Good Ideas Go Dormant and How They Wake Up by David Byrne, Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden, London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe, Redwood by Ben Macintyre, This Vast Enterprise by Craig Fehrman, and The Book of Birds by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. The list is completed by Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook Ottolenghi Simple Too, alongside children’s titles by Jasmine Warga (The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan) and Dan and Finn Ojari (Is This a Plum?).
The Book of the Year award forms a key component of Barnes & Noble’s broader strategy to position its physical stores as trusted curation hubs amidst growing competition from digital retailers and online algorithms.