The finalists for the 2026 Kirkus Prize have been revealed, with 18 books contending for the annual literary awards in three categories.

Making this year’s fiction shortlist are Kin by Tayari Jones; This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin; Eating Ashes, written by Brenda Navarro and translated by Megan McDowell; Luna, Phoenix, Queen by Julie Orringer; John of John by Douglas Stuart; and Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead. Stuart was previously a finalist for his novel Shuggie Bain, while Whitehead was a finalist for The Underground Railroad and Harlem Shuffle; he won the prize in 2019 for The Nickel Boys.

The fiction jurors are Kimberly Brock, adult book buyer at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati; Karen R. Long, a Kirkus reviewer and former manager of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards; and Kirkus fiction editor Laurie Muchnick.

This year’s nonfiction finalists are Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast by Pamela Colloff; Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter by Ada Ferrer; London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe; Defiance: A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria by Loubna Mrie; A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change Sides, written by Gisèle Pelicot with Judith Perrignon and translated by Natasha Lehrer and Ruth Diver; and A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness by Michael Pollan. Keefe was previously a finalist for his 2019 book, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.

Judging the nonfiction prize are Bonnie Tsui, an award-winning journalist and author of On Muscle and other books; Nora Krug, a writer and former editor at the Washington Post Book World; and Kirkus nonfiction editor John McMurtrie.

The young readers’ literature category is divided into three subcategories, each featuring two books. The picture book finalists are Navigating Night, written by Julie Leung and illustrated by Angie Kang, and Electric Birds of Pothakudi, written by Karthika Naïr and illustrated by Joëlle Jolivet.

The middle-grade finalists are The Lovely Dark by Matthew Fox and This Is a Door by Daniel Nayeri, while the young adult finalists are Anger Is Only a Shadow by Elizabeth Acevedo and When It’s Your Turn for Midnight by Blessing Musariri. Acevedo has been a finalist for the prize twice before, for The Poet X and Clap When You Land.

Jurors in the year’s young readers’ literature category are Sarah Park Dahlen, associate professor at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a board member of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature; Leah Johnson, author of You Should See Me in a Crown and other books as well as owner of Loudmouth Books in Indianapolis; and Kirkus young readers’ editors Mahnaz Dar and Laura Simeon.

“This year’s slate of prize finalists takes readers around the globe while exploring the deepest, most private recesses of the human mind, offering profound windows onto human experience,” Kirkus editor-in-chief Tom Beer said in a statement. “Each book is beautifully written and/or illustrated, brilliantly conceived, and compulsively readable.”

Each prize comes with a cash award of $50,000. Books are eligible for the prizes if they have received a rare starred review from Kirkus.

The Kirkus Prize was first awarded in 2014. Previous winners include Hernan Diaz for Trust, Susan Faludi for In the Darkroom, and Thao Lam for Everybelly.

The winners of this year’s prizes will be announced during a ceremony at the Tribeca Rooftop in New York on Oct. 7. It will also be livestreamed on Kirkus’ YouTube channel at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.