Announcing the Southern Book Prize Finalists

Announcing the Southern Book Prize Finalists
Southern independent booksellers have selected the finalists for the 2026 Southern Book Prize (SBP), representing bookseller favorites from 2026 that are Southern in nature.

(Asheville, NC) Southern independent booksellers have selected the finalists for the Southern Book Prize (SBP), representing bookseller favorites from 2026 that are Southern in nature—either about the South or by a Southern writer (or both).

SBP nominations are submitted by bookseller members of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) and chosen from books that have received enthusiastic reviews from Southern booksellers. These eighteen finalists, six in each category, received the highest number of nominations, making them a collection of the most beloved "hand sells" in fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature of the year.

The finalists make up the The Southern Book Prize Ballot. Voting opens October 2 and will run through November 6, 2026 and is open to booksellers and readers who love Southern literature and Southern independent bookstores.

VOTE HERE: The Southern Book Prize Ballot
See the Southern Book Prize finalists

SIBA launched the Southern Book Prize public ballot to encourage stores to engage their customers in the important question of what books deserve to be called "the best Southern book of the year." Participating bookstores promote the ballot to their customers, and submitted ballots are entered into a raffle to win a set of the finalist titles. Winners in each category will be chosen by popular vote. Southern Book Prize winners will be announced on November 16.

Fiction

Brawler by Lauren Groff [Riverhead Books]
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett [Spiegel & Grau]
Kin by Tayari Jones [Knopf]
Last First Kiss by Julian Winters [St. Martin's Griffin]
Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris [Sourcebooks Landmark]
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke [Knopf]

Nonfiction

All That's Unseen by Emilee Hackney [Penguin Press]
In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man by Tom Junod [Doubleday]
The Irish Goodbye by Beth Ann Fennelly [W. W. Norton & Company]
On Witness and Respair by Jesmyn Ward [Scribner]
The Ritz of the Bayou by Nancy Lemann [Hub City Press]
Salt, Sweat & Steam by Brigid Washington [St. Martin's Press]

Young Readers

Change of Plans by Sarah Dessen [Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers]
Ghost in the Night by Tiffany D. Jackson [Scholastic Press]
Phoenix by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley [Dial Books]
The Spiritualists by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb [Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers]
Squirrel Lock Holmes #1: The Pet Rock Mystery by Ashley Belote [Random House Graphic]
The Weedy Garden by Margaret Renkl [Greenwillow Books]

For more information, visit the home of the Southern Book Prize at The Southern Bookseller Review or contact Linda-Marie Barrett, Executive Director, Southern Booksellers Alliance at lindamarie@sibaweb.com.