Arundhati Roy wins the 2026 US National Book Critics Circle Award in the Autobiography category

Each year, the USA’s National Book Critics Circle presents awards for the finest books published in English in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism. This year, Arundhati Roy’s memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, has won the best Autobiography award.

In addition, two prizes voted on by membership: the John Leonard Prize for the best first book in any genre and the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize, for the best book of any genre translated into English and published in the US. The NBCC also presents the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, which recognises outstanding work by a member of the NBCC, and the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award and Toni Morrison Achievement Award, which are given respectively to individuals and literary institutions for transformative contributions to book culture.

Here is the complete list of winners

Autobiography: Mother Mary Comes to Me, Arundhati Roy

Biography: A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America’s Disabled, Alex Green

Criticism: Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right, Quinn Slobodian (Zone Books)

Fiction: We Do Not Part, Han Kang, translated from the Korean by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris

Nonfiction: Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Karen Hao

Poetry: Night Watch, Kevin Young (Knopf)

Barrios Book in Translation Prize: Sad Tiger, Neige Sinno,...

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