Presenting the Finalists for the 2026 Libby Book Awards

We want to thank everyone who took the time to look through the nominated titles and voted to select this year’s finalists, all amidst the important work that you do daily for your communities. Thanks to all of you (over 1,600 librarians and library staff from across the US and Canada <3 ), the titles on this list represent the best books of the year, as selected by librarians.

The Libby Book Awards has quickly become one of our favorite annual traditions in which we recognize the stories that captivate readers, spark conversations, and keep us turning pages late into the night. We hope that you and your patrons enjoy celebrating these authors and titles as much as our team does!

Promote the Libby Book Awards at your library

If you’d like to get your patrons excited about the official winners announcement on March 3, we’ve put together a few examples for you to draw inspiration from:

Promote with the easy-to-use marketing kit and be sure to use #LibbyBookAwards to join the online conversation. Ask your followers who they think the winner of each category will be on social or create a physical display in your library branch to encourage checkouts.

Use Libby Shelf Talkers to share more about each of the finalists, including quotes, fun facts, and reviews from staff!

Share this post from Libby Life with your community on social media to get them excited about the finalists.

Host a watch party with your patrons to watch the full recording of the first-ever in person Libby Book Award ceremony. The recording will be available on Kanopy and our YouTube channel starting March 7, 2026.

Shop the list of finalists in Marketplace here to add all the finalists to your digital library, or buy individual titles using the links below!

The 2026 Libby Book Award Finalists

Finalist titles are listed alphabetically.

See last year’s winners and watch the 2025 announcement video.

Reader’s Choice

For the first time, the top five most checked out books in the Libby App in 2025 (see the list of nominees here) were voted on by patrons from all around the world and narrowed down to two front-runners.

Presenting the Finalists for the 2026 Libby Book Awards

Promote the Libby Book Awards at your library

The 2026 Libby Book Award Finalists

Reader’s Choice

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Book of the Year – Adult Fiction

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Book of the Year – Adult Nonfiction

A Flower Traveled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland

A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

Book of the Year – Young Adult Fiction

Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Audiobook of the Year

Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

Debut Author of the Year

Alchemised by SenLinYu

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Best Book Club Book

Bog Queen by Anna North

Wreck by Catherine Newman

Best Comic/Graphic Novel

Absolute Wonder Woman: Volume 1 by Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Mattia De Iulis

Spent by Alison Bechdel

Best Cookbook

Baking Across America by B. Dylan Hollis

Turtle Island by Sean Sherman with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly

Best Fantasy

Alchemised by SenLinYu

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Best Historical Fiction

Isola by Allegra Goodman

The Antidote by Karen Russell

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

Best Memoir & Autobiography

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton

Best Personal Improvement

Shift: Managing Your Emotions—So They Don’t Manage You by Ethan Kross

We Can Do Hard Things: Answers to Life’s 20 Questions by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle

Best Mystery

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman

The Librarians by Sherry Thomas

Best Romance

It Had to Be Him by Adib Khorram

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

Best Romantasy

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig

Best Science Fiction

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

Best Horror

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Best Thriller

Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Best Picture Book

Cranky, Crabby Crow (Saves the World) by Corey R. Tabor

Don’t Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson, illustrated by Dan Santat

Best Middle Grade Book

All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson

Scarlet Morning, Book 1 by ND Stevenson

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