Barnes & Noble puts its book of the year in booksellers’ hands
Sixteen finalists, from fiction to children’s books, enter an internal vote. The winner will be announced on 12 November.
Barnes & Noble announced the 16 finalists for its 2026 Book of the Year on 22 October, selected by booksellers across the US chain. The list includes six novels, seven nonfiction titles and three books for children and young adults. Authors include Barbara Kingsolver with Partita, Maggie O’Farrell with Land, Colson Whitehead with Cool Machine, David Byrne with Sleeping Beauties, and Robert Macfarlane with Jackie Morris for The Book of Birds. Now in its eighth year, the award grows from booksellers’ nominations and is decided by their vote; the result will be announced on 12 November. Rather than a ranking driven only by sales, the selection highlights personal recommendation: books for different audiences and in different genres are united by booksellers’ willingness to champion them in daily conversations with readers.