75th National Jewish Book Awards Winners Announced
Eli Sharabi Wins Book of the Year for Hostage
NEW YORK — The 75th National Jewish Book Awards is given to English-language books of Jewish interest published in 2025, which represent the best of Jewish literature and authors and their contributions. Today, Jewish Book Council announced the winners of the longest-running North American awards program for Jewish literature. The National Jewish Book Awards celebrate the writers, scholars, and storytellers whose work illuminates Jewish life, history, culture, and ideas.
The 75th awards year marks the Jewish Book Council’s enduring work to elevate Jewish voices and stories across generations of readers. Eli Sharabi’s memoir Hostage earned the Book of the Year award, the highest honor, which chronicles his 491 days in Hamas captivity. Notable winners include historian and professor Pamela Nadell for the American Jewish Studies award for Antisemitism, an American Tradition; Julia Ioffe’s memoir Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy; Jack Fairweather’s biography of Fritz Bauer, The Prosecutor: One Man’s Battle to Bring Nazis to Justice, and Zeeva Bukai’s debut novel, The Anatomy of Exile. The winning books exemplify the highest achievements in Jewish literature, spanning fiction, history, biography, poetry, and contemporary thought.
The full awardees and honorees can be seen here.
Hostage by Eli Sharabi (HarperCollins Publishers) was named the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year. “This recognition means so much to me, not only personally, but for the memory of my family and all those we lost,” Sharabi said of the honor. “Hostage is my testimony, a story of my survival, written so others could bear witness. I hope it helps ensure that what happened is never forgotten. I am grateful to the Jewish Book Council for the vital work they do in elevating Jewish voices and sustaining Jewish storytelling across generations.”
This year, Jewish Book Council will present the Mentorship Award in Honor of Carolyn Starman Hessel to journalist, professor, and author Sam Freedman. His dedication to the publishing industry and long-standing work to uplift Jewish literature have helped countless Jewish books reach millions of readers. “Sam Freedman changed my life as a writer,” said Gal Beckerman, who submitted the nomination on Freedman’s behalf. “He believed in me before I believed in myself, pushed me to take my work seriously, and opened doors I didn’t even know existed. With tough love and deep generosity, he guided me through the daunting process of writing a book as if it were his own. What he did for me, he did for dozens of writers.”
“Jewish storytelling is a mirror, reflecting our values, and a bridge, connecting us with future generations to preserve Jewish memories and history,” said Naomi Firestone-Teeter, CEO of Jewish Book Council. “Especially amid rising antisemitism and Jewish authors facing increased scrutiny, Jewish books have the power to create and sustain community. Jewish Book Council has proudly celebrated Jewish authors for over a century and showcased the highest accomplishments in Jewish literature for a quarter of a century. As we embark on the next century of Jewish thought and stories, we honor these books and their authors who shape our collective history and carry on our tradition.”
“This year’s National Jewish Book Award winners showcase the remarkable depth of Jewish literary tradition and the vibrancy of contemporary Jewish voices shaping our world today,” said Elisa Spungen Bildner, president of Jewish Book Council. “These winning authors weave together past and future, reminding us that Jewish storytelling remains a vital source of imagination, courage, and connection.”
“At this milestone 75th anniversary, the National Jewish Book Award authors carry the core of Jewish belief, memory, and identity across time and place. Our winning authors inspire and connect the next generation of Jewish readers and writers. L’Dor V’Dor, “ said Joy Greenberg, co-president of JBC and co-chair for the National Jewish Book Awards Celebration. Linda Sterling, also a co-chair for the NJBA Celebration and a board member, added, “Our awardees honor the breadth of Jewish history and the vitality of Jewish life today. I am grateful for their contributions to Jewish tradition and literature.”
Jonah Platt, the award-winning podcaster and entertainer, will host the 75th National Jewish Book Awards Gala to celebrate the winners on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in New York City. Tickets can be purchased here.
JBC’s website features a database of current and past National Jewish Book Award winners and finalists; judges’ remarks on the 75th winners and finalists will also be available after the March 2026 celebration.
75th National Jewish Book Award Winners and Finalists:
Jewish Book of the Year
Everett Family Foundation Award
Winner:
Eli Sharabi
Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins
Mentorship Award in Honor of Carolyn Starman Hessel
Samuel G. Freedman
American Jewish Studies
Celebrate 350 Award
Winner:
Antisemitism, an American Tradition
Pamela S. Nadell
W. W. Norton & Company
Finalist:
The Jewish South: An American History
Shari Rabin
Princeton University Press
Autobiography and Memoir
The Krauss Family Award in Memory of Simon & Shulamith (Sofi) Goldberg
Winner:
Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy
Julia Ioffe
Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Finalist:
Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging
Angela Buchdahl
Pamela Dorman Books
Biography
In Memory of Sara Berenson Stone
Winner:
The Prosecutor: One Man’s Battle to Bring Nazis to Justice
Jack Fairweather
Crown
Finalists:
Douglas Century
Avid Reader Press
Will Eisner: A Comics Biography
Stephen Weiner & Dan Mazur
NBM Graphic Novels
Book Club
The Miller Family Award in Memory of Helen Dunn Weinstein and June Keit Miller
Winner:
Yishay Ishi Ron, Yardenne Greenspan, trans.
Soncata Press
Finalists:
Alice Austen
Grove Atlantic
Yariv Inabr
Genera Ventures Ltd
On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization
Douglas Murray
HarperCollins Publishers
Children’s Picture Book
Tracy and Larry Brown Family Award
Winner:
Alison Goldberg, Selina Alko, illus.
Barefoot Books
Finalists:
Fanny’s Big Idea: How Jewish Book Week Was Born
Richard Michelson, Alyssa Russell, illus.
Penguin Young Readers
Tami Lehman-Wilzig, Alisha Monnin, illus.
Apples & Honey Press, an imprint of Behrman House
Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice
Myra H. Kraft Memorial Award
Winner:
As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us
Sarah Hurwitz
HarperCollins Publishers
Finalists:
Soul Full: Gateways to Jewish Prayer
Dr. Ronit Ziv-Kreger
Koren Publishers
Going Out with Knots: My Two Kaddish Years with Hebrew Poetry
Wendy I. Zierler
Jewish Publication Society/University of Nebraska Press
Debut Fiction
Goldberg Prize
Winner:
Zeeva Bukai
Delphinium Books LTD
Finalists:
Boy From the North Country: A Novel
Sam Sussman
Penguin Press
Unfinished Acts of Wild Creation
Sarah Yahm
Dzanc Books
Education & Jewish Identity
In Memory of Dorothy Kripke
Winner:
Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children’s Literature
Miriam Udel
Princeton University Press
Fiction
JJ Greenberg Memorial Award
Winner:
Allison Epstein
Penguin Random House, Doubleday
Finalists:
Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Factory: A Novel
Iddo Gefen
Astra Publishing House
Boy From the North Country: A Novel
Sam Sussman
Penguin Press
Food Writing & Cookbooks
Jane and Stuart Weitzman Family Award
Winner:
Raegan Steinberg, Alexandre Cohen and Evelyne Eng
Appetite by Random House
Finalists:
Beejhy Barhany
Alfred A. Knopf
Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond
Laurel Kratochvila
Chronicle Books
Hebrew Fiction in Translation
Jane Weitzman Award
Winner:
Yishay Ishi Ron, Yardenne Greenspan, trans.
Soncata Press
Finalist:
Maya Arad
New Vessel Press
History
Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award
Winner:
Elissa Bemporad
New York University Press
Finalists:
Enemies, a Love Story: Mizrahi-Arab-Ashkenazi Relations Since the Dawn of Zionism
Hillel Cohen, Haim Watzman, trans.
Penn State University Press
World Enemy No. 1: Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and the Fate of the Jews
Jochen Hellbeck
Penguin Press
Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery
Richard Kreitner
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Holocaust
In Memory of Ernest W. Michel
Winner:
People Without History are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust
Anna Hájková, William Ross Jones, trans.
University of Toronto Press
Finalists:
Saints and Liars: The Story of Americans Who Saved Refugees from the Nazis
Debórah Dwork
W. W. Norton & Company
The Hour of Revenge: Holocaust Survivors and Their Search for Revenge and Retribution
Katarzyna Person
University of Toronto Press
Holocaust Memoir
in Memory of Dr. Charles and Ethel Weitzman
Winner:
Return to the Place I Never Left
Tobias Schiff, Dani James, trans.
Wayne State University Press
Finalists:
Rachelle Goldstein
Second Story Press
Benjamin Parket and Alexa Morris
Amsterdam Publishers
Yitskhok Rudashevski, Solon Beinfeld trans.
The Jewish Quarterly
Middle Grade Literature
Winner:
Honoria: A Fortuitous Friendship
Janice Shapiro
Fantagraphics
Finalists:
H. M. Bouwman
Holiday House
Adam Gidwitz
Penguin Young Readers
Carolyn Mackler
Scholastic
Modern Jewish Thought and Experience
Dorot Foundation Award in Memory of Joy Ungerleider
Winner:
Living in Both Worlds: Modern Orthodox Judaism in the United States, 1945 – 2025
Lawrence Grossman
Academic Studies Press
Finalists:
The Holy and the Broken: A cry for Israeli-Palestinian peace from a land that must be shared
Ittay Flescher
HarperCollins
Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish art of constructive disagreement
Daniel Taub
Hodder Faith
Poetry
Berru Award in Memory of Ruth and Bernie Weinflash
Winner:
Aharon Shabtai, Peter Cole, trans.
New Directions Publishing
Finalists:
Matthew Lippman
Ben Yehuda Press
Daniela Naomi Molnar
Ayin Press
Brooke Sahni
TRP: The University Press of SHSU
Scholarship
Nahum M. Sarna Memorial Award
Winner:
A Woman Is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe
Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach
Princeton University Press
Finalists:
A World of Piety: The Aims of Castilian Kabbalah
Jeremy Phillip Brown
Stanford University Press
Moulie Vidas
Oxford University Press
Sephardic Culture
Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy
Winner:
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
Ayin Press
Finalists:
Moses Maimonides: A Very Short Introduction
Ross Brann
Oxford University Press
Mostafa Hussein
Princeton University Press
Women’s Studies
Barbara Dobkin Award
Winner:
A Woman Is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe
Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach
Princeton University Press
Writing Based on Archival Material
The JDC-Herbert Katzki Award
Winner:
Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism
Elizabeth E. Imber
Stanford University Press
Finalists:
Brazilian Belonging: Jewish Politics in Cold War Latin America
Michael Rom
Stanford University Press
Laura Hobson Faure
Yale University Press
Young Adult Literature
Winner:
I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This: A Graphic Memoir
Eugene Yelchin
Candlewick Press
Finalist:
Loudmouth: Emma Goldman vs. America (A Love Story)
Deborah Heiligman
Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
###
About the Jewish Book Council: Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating, enriching, and strengthening the community through Jewish literature. Each year, JBC reaches 900,000 readers with its vibrant digital presence, in addition to working with nearly 300 touring authors each year, creating resources for over 3,000 book clubs, facilitating over 1,400 events, presenting the National Jewish Book Awards and Natan Notable Books, curating its bimonthly book subscription series, Nu Reads, co-hosting the popular literary series Unpacking the Book: Jewish Writers in Conversation, and publishing its annual print publication, Paper Brigade. JBC ensures that the authors of Jewish-interest books have a platform, and that readers are able to find these books and have the tools to discuss them with their communities.
About the National Jewish Book Awards: The National Jewish Book Awards were established by Jewish Book Council in 1950 in order to recognize outstanding works of Jewish literature. They are the oldest awards of their kind.
The winners of the 75th National Jewish Book Awards will be honored on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at Temple Emanu-El in New York City at an in-person celebration, and tickets can be purchased here.
Related Reading
