The Chicago Review of Books this week announced the finalists for its 2026 CHIRBy Awards.
The list includes nominees in four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry and essays/narrative journalism.
“Since the Chicago Review of Books was founded ten years ago, we’ve seen our literary community flourish to a level that indicates a renaissance,” Michael Welch, editor-in-chief of the Chicago Review of Books, said in a statement. “The CHIRBy Awards brings together authors, booksellers, readers, and community advocates to celebrate the writers who are showing the world the diversity and depth of our storytelling here in Chicago.”
Chicago Review of Books staff and booksellers in the city vote on the nominees. To be eligible for the awards, writers must either live in the Chicago area and/or have written work with a strong Chicago connection.
This year’s nominees are:
2026 fiction award:
- “Tenderness” by Rowan Beaird (Flatiron Books)
- “Kaplan’s Plot” by Jason Diamond (Flatiron Books)
- “The Hitch” by Sara Levine (Roxane Gay Books)
- “Every Exit Brings You Home” by Naeem Murr (W.W. Norton & Company)
- “It Came From Neverland” by Cynthia Pelayo (Crooked Lane Books)
- “Man Overboard!” by Kathleen Rooney (Gallery Books)
- “Majestic Hills” by Dawn Turner (Scribner)
2026 nonfiction award:
- “No Stars in Jefferson Park” by Maggie Andersen (Northwestern University Press)
- “Body Weather: Notes on Chronic Illness in the Anthropocene” by Lorraine Boissoneault (Beacon Press)
- “Great Lake: An Unnatural History of Lake Michigan” by Theodore J. Karamanski (University of Michigan Regional)
- “Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World” by Daniel Kraus (Counterpoint)
- “Fire and Clay: How Bricks Reveal the Hidden History of Chicago” by Will Quam (University of Chicago Press)
2026 poetry award:
- “E” by Noa Micaela Fields (Nightboat Books)
- “The Bronze Arms” by Richie Hofmann (Knopf)
- “Be Easy” by Adrian Matejka (Liveright Publishing Corporation)
- “Bisquick: An American Seance” by C. Russell Price (Triquarterly Books)
- “Orange” by Noel Quiñones (CavanKerry Press)
2026 essay/narrative journalism award:
- “The Case for a Parking Revolt” by Tal Rosenberg in Chicago Magazine
- “The last days of Legion Park, before the city swept it” by Katie Prout in Chicago Reader
- “Inside the Chicago Courier Classic, bike messenger culture refuses to die” by Andrew Stojkovich in Chicago Reader
- “Chicago Under Siege: How Operation Midway Blitz Changed Our City” by Francia García Hernández, Madison Savedra, and Block Club Chicago Staff in Block Club Chicago
- “Chicago, ICE, and the Lie of the American Pastoral” by Lauren Michele Jackson in The New Yorker
The winners in all four categories are expected to be announced at a ceremony at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 3 at the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave. The event is open to the public and is free but requires a reservation. To reserve seats, go to: www.storystudiochicago.org/chirby-awards.