The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has unveiled its highly anticipated longlist for the 2025 Fiction Award, featuring a selection of 10 novels from both established literary heavyweights and lesser-known talents, per bookriot.com.
The NBCC, an organisation of over 700 book review editors and critics, is celebrating its annual awards, which aim to advance a national conversation around literature. This marks the second year the NBCC has announced longlists across its categories, continuing a new tradition in its 50-year history.
The titles selected for the fiction list include books that have already featured prominently on ‘best of 2025’ lists, alongside those poised to gain significant attention. Among the longlisted authors are celebrated international voices, including Nobel laureate Han Kang, whose novel We Do Not Part is one of two translated works to be recognised.
The NBCC Fiction Longlist 2025
* The Antidote by Karen Russell
* Audition by Katie Kitamura
* The Book of Records by Madeline Thien
* Heart the Lover by Lily King
* Long Distance by Aysegül Savas
* On The Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith & Jennifer Russell
* Sea, Poison by Caren Beilin
* The South by Tash Aw
* We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris
* The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy
The NBCC Awards are presented across six core categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry and Criticism. The organisation also awards the John Leonard Prize for the best debut book and the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize.
The finalists (shortlists) for all categories will be announced in the coming weeks, with the winners scheduled to be revealed at an awards ceremony on March 26, 2026.
The NBCC continues to release its longlists for the remaining categories throughout the rest of the week.
