The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist

This week, The New Yorker is announcing the longlists for the 2024 National Book Awards, beginning with Young People’s Literature. Check back at 2 P.M. for the Translated Literature list, and Thursday and Friday for the Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction lists. Sign up for the Books & Fiction newsletter to receive each 2024 longlist.

Young People’s Literature

The titles on this year’s longlist interweave stories of self-acceptance with explorations of broader issues. The list includes two début young adult novels, one writer who has been previously honored by the National Book Awards—Randy Ribay, the author of “Everything We Never Had”—and a remarkable five novels in verse.

Olivia A. Cole, “Ariel Crashes a Train”
Labyrinth Road / Penguin Random House

Violet Duncan, “Buffalo Dreamer”
Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin Random House

Margarita Engle, “Wild Dreamers”
Atheneum Books for Young Readers / Simon & Schuster

Josh Galarza, “The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky”
Henry Holt and Company (BYR) / Macmillan Publishers

Erin Entrada Kelly, “The First State of Being”
Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins Publishers

Randy Ribay, “Everything We Never Had”
Kokila / Penguin Random House

Shifa Saltagi Safadi, “Kareem Between”
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House

Angela Shanté, “The Unboxing of a Black Girl”
Page Street Publishing

Ali Terese, “Free Period”
Scholastic Press / Scholastic, Inc.

Alicia D. Williams, “Mid-Air”
Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books / Simon & Schuster

The judges for the category this year are Rose Brock, the co-founder of the North Texas Teen Book Festival; Huda Fahmy, whose novel “Huda F Cares?” was a National Book Award Finalist in 2023; Leah Johnson, the author of the novel “You Should See Me in a Crown” and the founder of Loudmouth Books; Mike Jung, the author of the novel “Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities”; and Brein Lopez, the general manager of Children’s Book World in Los Angeles.