The Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize

Brooklyn Public Library is proud to share the 2025 BPL Book Prize nominees!

Each year Brooklyn Public Library honors outstanding works of nonfiction and fiction with a prize given in the fall. Selected by librarians and library staff, who draw on their broad knowledge of literature and the many populations they serve, the BPL Book Prize recognizes writing that captures the spirit of Brooklyn, one of the most socially and culturally diverse communities in the country. 

2025 Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize 

Fiction Shortlist

The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera (Vintage)

Hum by Helen Phillips (Marysue Rucci Books)

In Universes by Emet North (Harper Perennial)
 

Nonfiction Shortlist

Forest of Noise: Poems by Mosab Abu Toha (Knopf)

Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America's Largest Meatpacking Company by Alice Driver (Atria / One Signal Publishers)

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Fiction Longlist

Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung (Berkley)

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher (Catapult)

Wait by Gabriella Burnham (One World)

The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera (Vintage)

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (Gallery Books)

Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood (The Dial Press)

Blackheart Man by Nalo Hopkinson (Saga Press)

Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte (William Morrow)

Hum by Helen Phillips (Marysue Rucci Books)

In Universes by Emet North (Harper Perennial)

Nonfiction Longlist

Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can Solve the Housing Crisis by Tracy Rosenthal & Leonardo Vilchis (Haymarket Books)

Belly Full: Exploring Caribbean Cuisine through 11 Fundamental Ingredients and Over 100 Recipes by Lesley Enston (Ten Speed Press)

Bluff: Poems by Danez Smith (Graywolf Press)

Brooklynites: The Remarkable Story of the Free Black Communities That Shaped a Borough by Prithi Kanakamedala (Washington Mews Books / NYU Press)

Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future by Jason Stanley (Atria / One Signal Publishers)

First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream by Jessica Hoppe (Flatiron Books)

Forest of Noise: Poems by Mosab Abu Toha (Knopf)

The Icon and the Idealist: Margaret Sanger, Mary Ware Dennett, and the Rivalry That Brought Birth Control to America by Stephanie Gorton (Ecco)

Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America's Largest Meatpacking Company by Alice Driver (Atria / One Signal Publishers)

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

The Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize was established in 2015 by the Brooklyn Eagles, a group of young and engaged Brooklynites who are passionate about Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) and work to engage new patrons, promote the Library as a cultural center, and build a vibrant community around the resources the library offers.

The Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize is generously underwritten by the Peck Stacpoole Foundation