Finalists for the Kirkus Prize have been selected. Winners in the three categories, who will each receive $50,000, will be announced at the Kirkus Prize ceremony in New York City on October 16. This year's finalists are:
Fiction:
Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet (Simon & Schuster)
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich (Harper)
James by Percival Everett (Doubleday)
Playground by Richard Powers (W.W. Norton)
Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe (Morrow)
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Grove)
Nonfiction:
The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq by Steve Coll (Penguin)
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham (Avid Reader Press)
Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir by Tessa Hulls (MCD/FSG)
The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing (W.W. Norton)
Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America by Shefali Luthra (Doubleday)
Another Word for Love: A Memoir by Carvell Wallace (MCD/FSG)
Young Readers' Literature:
Picture books
We Who Produce Pearls by Joanna Ho, illustrated by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya (Scholastic/Orchard)
There Was a Party for Langston by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey (Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum)
Middle grade
Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan (Allida/HarperCollins)
Shark Teeth by Sherri Winston (Bloomsbury)
YA
Gather by Kenneth M. Cadow (Candlewick)
Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo (Random House/Make Me a World)