With awards season in full swing, the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys honor and celebrate the best movies, TV and music of the year. But here at Libby, we’re all about the books. So, for the first time ever, we’re excited to introduce "The Libbys: The inaugural Libby Book Awards" where we put books in the spotlight and roll out the red carpet for the best of 2023, nominated by our expert panel of librarians.

These books will then be voted on by librarians and library workers across North America and a winner will be chosen in each category. After all the votes have been tallied, the winners will be announced LIVE on March 12 at 7PM EST!

Want in on all the star-studded action? Watch the virtual Libby Book Awards ceremony presented by the hosts of our very own Professional Book Nerds.

The envelope, please. Here are the nominees, honoring excellence in 17 categories. Click on the 🎧 for the audiobook version.

Finalists for Best Adult Fiction

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward 🎧
The Fraud by Zadie Smith 🎧
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride 🎧
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett 🎧

Finalists for Best Adult Nonfiction

The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen 🎧
Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo 🎧
Monsters by Claire Dederer 🎧
The Wager by David Grann 🎧
When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramsey 🎧

Finalists for Best Young Adult Fiction

The Blackwoods by Brandy Colbert 🎧
The Davenports by Krystal Marquis 🎧
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 🎧
Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley 🎧
What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez 🎧

Finalists for Best Audiobook

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron

Finalists for Best Debut Author

After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz 🎧
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 🎧
I Keep Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane 🎧
In Memoriam by Alice Winn 🎧
The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes 🎧

Finalists for Best Diverse Author

Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling 🎧
Liquid Snakes by Stephen Kearse
Lone Women by Victor LaValle 🎧
The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz 🎧
The Thick and the Lean by Chana Porter 🎧

Finalists for Best Comic/Graphic Novel

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll
One Bad Day: The Riddler (Batman) by Tom King & Mitch Gerads
Roaming by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki
Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed
The Talk by Darrin Bell

Finalists for Best Memoir & Autobiography

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein 🎧
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair 🎧
My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand 🎧
Pageboy by Elliot Page 🎧
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith 🎧

Finalists for Best Cookbook

Let’s Eat by Dan Pelosi
Portico by Leah Koenig
Start Here by Sohla El-Waylly
Still We Rise by Erika Council
Tenderheart by Hetty Lui McKinnon

Finalists for Best Mystery

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor 🎧
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim 🎧
Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb 🎧
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman 🎧
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto 🎧

Finalists for Best Thriller

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby 🎧
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll 🎧
Pet by Catherine Chidgey
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi 🎧
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron 🎧

Finalists for Best Romance

Ana María and the Fox by Liana De la Rosa 🎧
Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon 🎧
Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn 🎧
A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles 🎧
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Finalists for Best Fantasy

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon 🎧
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 🎧
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo 🎧
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose 🎧
Witch King by Martha Wells 🎧

Finalists for Best Romantasy

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett 🎧
Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong 🎧
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros 🎧
Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall 🎧
The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon 🎧

Finalists for Best Science Fiction

Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey 🎧
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh 🎧
System Collapse by Martha Wells 🎧
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei 🎧
Translation State by Ann Leckie 🎧

Finalists for Best Historical Fiction

Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward 🎧
Loot by Tania James 🎧
North Woods by Daniel Mason 🎧
The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng 🎧

Finalists for Best Book Club Pick

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano 🎧
Maame by Jessica George 🎧
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett 🎧
Wellness by Nathan Hill 🎧
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang 🎧

*Title availability may vary by library & region.

Borrow these books for free from your library on Libby. All you need is a library card.

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