74th Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards Winners Announced

The Jewish Book Council's awards program draws attention to books on a wide range of subjects, from life in Israel and the Diaspora to October 7 and the war in Gaza, along with five must-read novels.

The Jew­ish Book Coun­cil has announced the win­ners of the 74th Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards with the Mar­lene Mey­er­son Jewish Community Center in Man­hat­tan as part of the JCC’s Books That Changed My Life Fes­ti­val. The Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards is one of Jew­ish Book Council’s longest-run­ning pro­grams. This year JBC worked with over 120 judges who con­sid­ered over 700 submissions.

“While our Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award win­ners always reflect an impor­tant cross sec­tion of Jew­ish life, it’s espe­cial­ly mean­ing­ful that this year’s awards are going to a num­ber of Israeli authors and books on Israel," said Jew­ish Book Council Pres­i­dent Elisa Spun­gen Bild­ner. "These works offer crit­i­cal oppor­tu­ni­ties for engage­ment, debate, and dia­logue for our com­mu­ni­ty — one of the most fun­da­men­tal roles of lit­er­a­ture. We are proud to uplift and sup­port these books and bring them to new read­ers across the world.”

The Everett Fam­i­ly Foun­da­tion Book of the Year is 10/7: 100 Human Stories by Lee Yaron. It is the defin­i­tive account of the epochal attacks, as told through the sto­ries of its vic­tims and the com­mu­ni­ties they called home. Com­bin­ing oral his­to­ry with inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism, the book pro­vides a vital win­dow into the his­to­ry of the Israeli-Pales­tin­ian con­flict and how inter­nal polit­i­cal tur­moil in Israel has affect­ed it, offer­ing the nar­ra­tives of the lives of every­day peo­ple who lived ten­u­ous­ly on the bor­der with Gaza. Yaron pro­files vic­tims from a wide range of com­mu­ni­ties — from left-wing kib­butzniks and Burn­ing Man-esque partiers to rad­i­cal right-wingers, from Bedouins and Israeli Arabs to Nepalese guest work­ers, peace activists, Holo­caust sur­vivors, and refugees from Ukraine and Rus­sia — depict­ing the full­ness of their lives, not just their final moments. At 30, Yaron is the youngest per­son ever to win the Book of the Year award.

Ayelet Tsabari won the JJ Green­berg Memo­r­i­al Award for Fic­tion for her nov­el Songs for the Bro­ken­heart­ed (Ran­dom House).

Yael van der Wood­en won the Gold­berg Prize for Debut Fic­tion with her nov­el The Safe­keep (Avid Read­er Press / Simon & Schus­ter).

The Miller Fam­i­ly Book Club Award went to Howard Langer for his nov­el The Last Dekrepitzer (Cresheim Press).

The Hebrew Teacher (New Ves­sel Press) by Maya Arad (trans­lat­ed by Jes­si­ca Cohen) won the Hebrew Fic­tion in Trans­la­tion Award. Daniel Kha­lastchi won the Berru Poet­ry Award for The Sto­ry of Your Obsti­nate Sur­vival (Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin Press).

Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tish­by are the win­ners of the Edu­ca­tion and Jew­ish Iden­ti­ty Award for Uncom­fort­able Con­ver­sa­tions with a Jew (Simon & Schus­ter/Simon Ele­ment).

Christophe Lebold received the Biog­ra­phy Award for his book Leonard Cohen: The Man Who Saw the Angels Fall (ECW Press).

Amir Tibon was award­ed the The Krauss Fam­i­ly Award for Auto­bi­og­ra­phy & Mem­oir for his mem­oir, The Gates of Gaza: A Sto­ry of Betray­al, Sur­vival, and Hope in Israel’s Bor­der­lands (Lit­tle, Brown & Company).

The Mod­ern Jew­ish Thought and Expe­ri­ence Dorot Foun­da­tion Award was pre­sent­ed to Joshua Leifer for his book Tablets Shat­tered: The End of an Amer­i­can Jew­ish Cen­tu­ry and the Future of Jew­ish Life (Pen­guin Ran­dom House/Dut­ton)

Danielle Sharkan received the Children’s Pic­ture Book Award for Shar­ing Shalom illus­trat­ed by Seli­na Alko (Hol­i­day House).

A. R. Vish­ny received the Young Adult Lit­er­a­ture Award for Night Owls (Harper­Collins), a paranormal romance set in New York City's underworld.

The Mid­dle Grade Lit­er­a­ture Award went to Finn and Ezra’s Bar Mitz­vah Time Loop by Joshua S. Levy (Harp­er Collins).

The Sephardic Cul­ture Mimi S. Frank Award was given to Entwined Home­lands, Empow­ered Dias­po­ras: His­pan­ic Moroc­can Jews and Their Glob­al­iz­ing Com­mu­ni­ty by Avi­ad Moreno (Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty Press)

A com­plete list of the 74th Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award win­ners and final­ists can be found at www​.Jew​ish​Book​Coun​cil​.org. JBC’s web­site fea­tures a data­base of cur­rent and past Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award win­ners and final­ists.

The win­ners of the 74th Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards will be hon­ored on Wednes­day, March 12, 2025 at 6:15 PM ET at an in-per­son cer­e­mo­ny in Man­hat­tan. The host of the 74th Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards will be author Dani Shapiro, the author of eleven books, includ­ing two Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award win­ners, Sig­nal Fires and Inher­i­tance.

Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan

Jew­ish Book Coun­cil is a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to edu­cat­ing, enrich­ing, and strength­en­ing the com­mu­ni­ty through Jew­ish lit­er­a­ture. Each year, JBC reach­es over 700,000 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, co-host­ing the pop­u­lar lit­er­ary series Unpack­ing the Book: Jew­ish Writ­ers in Con­ver­sa­tion, and pub­lish­ing its annu­al print magazine, 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. 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.

In related news, the Association of Jewish Libraries announced the winner of the 2025 Jewish Fiction Awards: Ayelet Tsabari's Songs for the Brokenhearted.

Three honor books were also recognized.

Maya Arad, The Hebrew Teacher. "Maya Arad poignantly explores the loneliness and isolation experienced by three different Israeli women in America, each searching for connection in their personal and professional lives. Although Arad’s work is well-known in Israel, The Hebrew Teacher, translated by Jessica Cohen, provides a first glimpse for English-language readers into Arad’s beautiful prose, complex characters, and well-developed themes."

Joan Leegant, Displaced Persons. “This short story collection is a veritable tour de force with its kaleidoscope of vividly drawn characters, original and dynamic storylines, and the deftly woven combination of pathos, wit, and drama; it’s a compulsive read,” said Sarah Feldman, member of the AJL Fiction Award committee.

Shelly Jay Shore, Rules for Ghosting. "Ezra Friedman, a trans man who can see ghosts, returns to his family’s funeral home amidst personal and familial upheaval. As he navigates love and identity, he confronts both spectral challenges and the complexities of family life."

The Association of Jewish Libraries is an international, professional organization that fosters access to information and research in all forms of media relating to all things Jewish. The Association promotes Jewish literacy and scholarship and provides a community for peer support and professional development. For more information, visit www.jewishlibraries.org.