Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction · 2025 · Winner
Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction
2025 Winner
2025 Shortlist & Longlist
Complete History
2020s
- 2025King of Kings: The Triumph and Tragedy of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
- 2024Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space — Adam Higginbotham
- 2023Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of 'Latino'
- 2022In Sensorium: Notes for My People
- 2021Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir
- 2020Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream
2010s
- 2019How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir — Saeed Jones
- 2018Call Them by Their True Names: American Crises (and Essays) — Rebecca Solnit
- 2017The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea — Jack E. Davis
- 2016In the Darkroom
- 2015Between the World and Me — Ta-Nehisi Coates
- 2014Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir
About the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction
The Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction is an annual American literary award recognizing exceptional nonfiction for adult readers, presented by Kirkus Reviews, the century-old book review publication. Established in 2014 alongside prizes for fiction and young readers' literature, the Kirkus Prize is notable for its large cash prize of $50,000—among the largest for nonfiction in the United States—and for being awarded on the basis of Kirkus Reviews' own starred review process rather than a jury submission process.
Eligibility is determined by starred reviews from Kirkus: a book must have received a starred review from Kirkus during the eligibility period to qualify. A small jury then selects the winner from among starred-review recipients. This process means the award reflects sustained critical enthusiasm rather than publisher nominations.
Past Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction winners include Roz Chast's Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? (2014), Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me (2015), Susan Faludi's In the Darkroom (2016), Jack E. Davis's The Gulf (2017), Rebecca Solnit's Call Them by Their True Names (2018), Saeed Jones's How We Fight for Our Lives (2019), Mychal Denzel Smith's Stakes Is High (2020), Brian Broome's Punch Me Up to the Gods (2021), Tanaïs's In Sensorium (2022), Héctor Tobar's Our Migrant Souls (2023), Adam Higginbotham's Challenger (2024), and Scott Anderson's King of Kings (2025). Winners are announced in October in New York.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Eligibility is based on having received a Kirkus starred review, rather than publisher submission or jury nomination. Only books that Kirkus critics themselves deemed exceptional enough for a starred review can win.
- The winner receives $50,000, making it one of the largest cash prizes for nonfiction in the United States.
- The Kirkus Prize was first awarded in 2014, with Roz Chast winning the inaugural nonfiction prize for Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
- Winners are announced each October in New York City at a ceremony hosted by Kirkus Reviews.
- A jury selects the winner from the pool of Kirkus-starred books in each category. The jury's composition varies by year.
- Yes, translated nonfiction books published in the US that receive a Kirkus starred review are eligible.
- There is significant overlap: several Kirkus Nonfiction Prize winners and finalists have gone on to win or be recognized by the NBCC, Carnegie Medal, and National Book Award. The prize has a strong track record of recognizing culturally significant nonfiction.