On Wednesday evening, November 19, book publishers, authors, and agents gathered at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City for the 76th National Book Awards. From that ceremony, we present the five finalists for the Young People’s Literature prize, along with their editors. Click here to see our coverage of winner Daniel Nayeri’s acceptance speech.
Daniel Nayeri (l.) and Arthur A. Levine, publisher of Levine Querido. In accepting his award for The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story, the tale of the effects of the war on two Iranian children, Nayeri noted how “distinctly lucky [I am] that there are so many people in this room that I can call friend.”
Liz Szabla (l.), VP and associate publisher at Feiwel and Friends, and Amber McBride. In McBride’s novel in verse, The Leaving Room, two girls’ souls become entangled in the Leaving Room—a place all young people pass through when they die.
HarperCollins editorial director Luana Horry (l.) with Ibi Zoboi, author of (S)Kin (Versify), a novel in verse about an undocumented Caribbean mother and daughter who work for pennies by day, then shed their skin to feast on the life force of their enemies at night.
Kyle Lukoff (l.) with Ellen Cormier, senior editor at Dial Books for Young Readers. In Lukoff's novel A World Worth Saving, a transgender teen and a golem aim to dismantle a supernaturally evil conversion therapy program.
Maggie Lehrman, associate publisher of Abrams Children’s Books (l.) and Hannah V. Sawyerr, author of Truth Is, in which a teen grapples with an unplanned pregnancy in a world that wants to take the choice away from her.
