Over the last three days, the National Book Foundation announced its longlist for the five categories of the National Book Awards — a slow drip of literary celebration.
It was super cool, and not surprising, to see some Library-adjacent authors among those selected.
First up is Sara Nović, the author of this year’s Seattle Reads pick “True Biz”: Sara was longlisted for the 2026 National Book Award Prize for Nonfiction for her memoir “Mother Tongue.”
Sara began “Mother Tongue” as a series of letters to her two young sons — one biological and hearing, the other adopted and deaf. In this Q&A in the Seattle Times she calls the book “a mash-up of memoir and research about deafness, queerness, adoption, a bunch of other little ways that we can be different from our families, and how we build new connections in those gaps.”
“Mother Tongue” is a Library Peak Pick, which means you can check it out with no holds and no wait (note that there are fewer Peak Picks on the shelves right now now because of our technology upgrade, so you may have to be patient).
You can also meet Sara in just one week. She will visit Seattle on Sept. 25 and 26 to talk about “True Biz” at four events as part of Seattle Reads, our citywide book club.
If you want to read “True Biz” before attending a program, you still have time. We have unlimited copies of the e-book and e-audiobook for “True Biz” available, it’s a Peak Pick, and many locations also have uncatalogued copies (meaning you don’t have to check them out). It’s also a fast and unforgettable read — highly engaging and steeped in ASL and Deaf culture and history.
Thanks to our community partners Deaf Spotlight, Deaf Lit Fest, HSDC, and HLAA, for collaborating on Seattle Reads, and to Wallace, 4 Culture, and The Seattle Public Library Foundation for supporting the program.
Seattle author Tae Keller — Young People’s Fiction
We were so happy to see that Seattle author Tae Keller, a longtime friend of the Library, was longlisted for a National Book Award in the category of Young People’s Fiction, for her novel “When Tomorrow Burns.”
Set in a Seattle engulfed in wildfire smoke, Keller’s novel is about three middle school friends who have been drifting apart — until they embark on a quest to find a book of prophecies that may help them understand their world.
Fun fact: Tae spent time at the Central Library while writing the book and it makes a cameo. The characters visit the Seattle Room on the top floor to research the Seattle fire, with a kind reference librarian helping them.
Tae has other Library connections: In 2025, her wonderful Newbery-Award winning book “When You Trap a Tiger” was selected as one of our Global Reading Challenge books.
And earlier this year, Tae’s book “We Carry the Sun” was featured in the UNESCO Cities of Music International Jazz Relay. Partnering with Seattle City of Literature, Bushwick Book Club, and Jack Straw Cultural Center, the Library worked with fifth graders at Highland Park Elementary School to record a youth-forward interpretation of the selected song, with lyrics inspired by “We Carry the Sun.”
The results were inspiring!
And this just in: Today, poet Layli Long Soldier was longlisted for the National Book Awards in Poetry for her book “We.” Soldier, an Oglala Lakota poet and artist, will visit Seattle to talk about “We” at the Central Library on Tuesday, Oct. 13, so you’ll have a chance to meet her in person. (Registration is required.)
The National Book Award finalists will be announced on Tuesday, October 6, and winners on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Check www.nationalbook.org/awards2026/.
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