The winners of the 2026 New England Book Awards, sponsored by the New England Independent Booksellers Association, were announced and celebrated last night at the NEIBA Awards Banquet in Newton, Mass. The winners:
Fiction: The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)
Nonfiction: Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden (The Dial Press)
Poetry: The Near and Distant World: Poems by Bianca Stone (Tin House)
Young Adult: A Prince Among Pirates by Katie Abdou (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Middle Grade: The Forest Revealed: An Illustrated Year by Jada Fitch and Kateri Kosek (Storey Publishing)
Picture Book: Cat Nap by Brian Lies (Greenwillow Books)
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The winners of the 2026 Golden Poppy Book Awards, sponsored by the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, were announced Tuesday night at the first in-person Golden Poppy ceremony, held during CALIBA's Fall Fest in San Diego. The winners:
Fiction: Female Life on Planet Earth by Laleh Khadivi (Ecco)
Nonfiction: Racist by Design: Two Centuries of U.S. Immigration Control by Kelly Lytle Hernández (W.W. Norton)
Mystery: A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper (Mulholland Books)
Poetry: Splashed Things by Leigh Lucas (BOA Editions)
Octavia E. Butler Award (Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror): Muñeca by Cynthia Gómez (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Romance: You Jump First by Myah Ariel (Simon Pulse)
Martin Cruz Smith Award: Emerging Diverse Voices: Carrying by Samantha Josephs (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Glenn Goldman: California Lifestyle & Cooking: La Copine: New California Cooking from an Oasis in the Desert by Claire Wadsworth, Nikki Hill & Ben Mims (Abrams Books)
Picture Book: Duel by Shawn Harris (Neal Porter Books)
Middle Grade: Brittle Magic by Kate O'Shaughnessy (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Young Adult: Where No Shadow Stays by Sara Hashem (Holiday House)
Children's Nonfiction: Basket Ball: The Story of the All-American Game by Kadir Nelson (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Mirrors & Windows: Excellence in Children's Literature: Few Blue Skies by Carolina Ixta (Quill Tree Books)