Finalists
• The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa: A Novel by Stephen Buoro
• I'm a Fan: A Novel by Sheena Patel
• Idlewild: A Novel by James Frankie Thomas
• Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine

Finalists
• Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere by Maria Bamford (Narrator)
• All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel by Adam Lazarre-White (Narrator), Elishia Merricks (Producer)
• Yellowface by Helen Laser (Narrator), Suzanne Mitchell (Casting Director & Executive Producer)
• Wild and Precious: A Celebration of Mary Oliver by Sophia Bush (Narrator), Helena de Groot (Lead Producer), Kerri Kolen (Exec. Producer)

Finalists
• Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power by Leah Redmond Chang
• The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative by Gregg Hecimovich
• Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg
• Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South by Elizabeth R. Varon
• The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence by David Waldstreicher

Bestselling author and essayist Claire Dederer is the winner of the 2023 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose for “Monster: A Fan’s Dilemma,” which expands on her popular 2017 essay in the Paris Review titled “What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?” Sponsored by the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the award honors exceptional work and encompasses fiction, travel writing, memoir and diary. “Monsters” explores the problematic relationship between masculinity and fame, and considers how we come to love art made by less than perfect humans. Dederer engages the essayist form at its best and the result is both critical, literary and provocative. We can love art despite hating the artist, Dederer’s breathtaking sentences argue, but it always comes with a cost.

Finalists
• Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal by Bettina L. Love
• American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 by Cameron McWhirter & Zusha Elinson
• We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir by Raja Shehadeh
• Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe

Finalists
• Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt
• Wednesday's Child: Stories by Yiyun Li
• The Dog of the North: A Novel by Elizabeth McKenzie
• Blackouts: A Novel by Justin Torres

Finalists
• Cartoonshow by Derek M. Ballard
• Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham
• Social Fiction by Chantal Montellier
• CODA by Simon Spurrier, Matías Bergara (Illustrator)

Finalists
• The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S History by Ned Blackhawk
• Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World by Malcom Harris
• Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class by Blair L. M. Kelley
• Brooding Over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women's Lethal Resistance by Nikki M. Taylor

The 2023 Innovator’s Award, which spotlights efforts to bring books, publishing and storytelling into the future, will be presented to Access Books. The nonprofit organization will be honored for its work renovating school libraries and ensuring that underserved students and communities have access to quality literacy resources. The work Access Books does in creating comfortable and welcoming environments for students to explore literacy and the world of books is incredibly important and has lasting effects. We are thrilled to honor Access Books with the Innovator’s Award as it continues to improve libraries in the communities that need it the most.

Finalists
• Dark Ride: A Thriller by Lou Berney
• All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel by S. A. Cosby
• Everybody Knows: A Novel by Jordan Harper
• Time's Undoing: A Novel by Cheryl A. Head

Finalists
• Short Film Starring My Beloved's Red Bronco by K. Iver
• Couplets: A Love Story by Maggie Millner
• The Court of No Record: Poems by Jenny Molberg
• Masters: Poems by Simon Shieh

Jane Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “A Thousand Acres,” is the 2023 Robert Kirsch Award recipient. The award recognizes a writer with a substantial connection to the American West. In addition to being an accomplished novelist, L.A-born Smiley has written short fiction, nonfiction and several books for young adults. Whether it's her epic reimagining of King Lear in 'A Thousand Acres,' exploring campus life at Moo University in the hilarious 'Moo,' or her insightful writing about her beloved horses for readers of all ages, Smiley's work brings a deeper understanding of the American landscape and the people (and creatures) that inhabit it. Amongst her acclaimed works are “The Greenlanders” and the Last Hundred Years Trilogy: “Some Luck,” “Early Warning” and “Golden Age.” She has received countless accolades during her career, including the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature.

Finalists
• Whalefall by Daniel Kraus
• Lone Women: A Novel by Victor LaValle
• The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab
• Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu

Finalists
• The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell
• The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos by Jaime Green
• A Book of Noises: Notes on the Auraculous by Caspar Henderson
• A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly & Zach Weinersmith

Finalists
• Forgive Me Not by Jennifer Baker
• Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole
• Invisible Son by Kim Johnson
• Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story by Sarah Myer