Here are the winners of the 2026 Kirkus Prize.

Tonight, at a ceremony in New York City, Kirkus Reviews announced the winners of the 13th annual Kirkus Prize, which awards $50,000 to “books of exceptional merit” in three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young Readers’ Literature. The winners were chosen from the pool of books that have received a Kirkus star over the past year: 3,584 fiction titles, 2,806 nonfiction titles, and 3,936 young readers’ titles.

“Readers can rejoice over the winners of this year’s Kirkus Prize; these are remarkably accomplished works of fiction and nonfiction that nevertheless wear their accomplishments lightly,” said Kirkus Reviews editor-in-chief Tom Beer in a statement. “Above all, they are unforgettable books that will engage and transform all who enter their pages.”

Here are the winners:

Fiction:

Tayari Jones, Kin
(Alfred A. Knopf)

Citation: Niecy and Annie are “cradle friends.” Born in small-town Louisiana in the 1950s, they share an unhappy bond, both having lost their mothers. In a powerfully compelling novel that brims with the cadences of the Black South, Jones explores the women’s diverging lives while using them as a lens to observe social injustice in language that is intimate, conversational, and musical.

Finalists: Daniyal Mueenuddin, This Is Where the Serpent Lives (Knopf); Brenda Navarro, trans. by Megan McDowell, Eating Ashes (Liveright/Norton); Julie Orringer, Luna, Phoenix, Queen (Knopf); Douglas Stuart, John of John (Grove); Colson Whitehead, Cool Machine (Doubleday)

The jurors for the 2026 Kirkus Prize in Fiction 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.

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Nonfiction:

Pamela Colloff, Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast
(Knopf)

Citation: In 1987, Jim Dailey was convicted of the brutal murder of a 14-year-old girl, Shelly Boggio. However, as Pamela Colloff reveals in her taut and engrossing investigation, a scheming jailhouse snitch’s testimony was largely responsible for putting Dailey on death row for decades. Even more damning, though, is Colloff’s exposure of a criminal justice system that is all too happy to look the other way in cutting deals that can have devastating consequences.

Finalists: Ada Ferrer, Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter (Scribner); Patrick Radden Keefe, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth (Doubleday); Loubna Mrie, Defiance: A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria (Viking); Gisèle Pelicot with Judith Perrignon, trans. by Natasha Lehrer & Ruth Diver, A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change Sides (Penguin Press); Michael Pollan, A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness (Penguin Press)

The jurors for the 2026 Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction 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.

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Young Readers’ Literature:

Elizabeth Acevedo, Anger Is Only a Shadow
(Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins)

Citation: Liliana never meant to get in trouble—again—but now she’s awaiting trial with an ankle monitor. As her brother Aldwin’s mental health deteriorates, Lil considers risking her future to travel to him. Nuanced, resonant verse paints a clear-eyed, profoundly loving portrait of a teen navigating the complexities of growing up. Acevedo’s cast of fully rounded, compassionately drawn characters will live on in readers’ hearts.

Finalists: Julie Leung, illus. by Angie Kang, Navigating Night (Anne Schwartz/Random); Karthika Naïr, illus. by Joëlle Jolivet, Electric Birds of Pothakudi (Tate Publishing); Matthew Fox, The Lovely Dark (Union Square Kids); Daniel Nayeri, This Is a Door (Stonefruit Studio/Sourcebooks); Blessing Musariri, When It’s Your Turn for Midnight (Carolrhoda Lab)

The jurors for the 2026 Kirkus Prize in Young Readers’ Literature 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 and the owner of Loudmouth Books in Indianapolis; and Kirkus young readers’ editors Mahnaz Dar and Laura Simeon.