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The New York Society Library was honored to celebrate the latest winners of the New York City Book Awards in a special ceremony on May 11, 2026. As NYC’s oldest cultural institution, the Library is uniquely qualified to present these annual awards to books of literary quality or historical importance that evoke the spirit or enhance appreciation of New York City. The awards include the Hornblower Award for an excellent New York City-related book by a first-time author.
2025-2026 NYC Book Award winners Elon Green, Alexander Wood, David Campbell, Jarrod Shanahan, and Patrick Dougher (not pictured: winner Bench Ansfield)
The 2025-26 winners are
- Bench Ansfield, Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City (W.W. Norton & Company)
- Patrick Dougher, Concrete Dreamland: Coming of Age in Underground New York (Little, Brown and Company)
- David Campbell and Jarrod Shanahan, City Time: On Being Sentenced to Rikers Island (NYU Press)
- Elon Green, The Man Nobody Killed: Life, Death, and Art in Michael Stewart's New York (Celadon Books)
- The Hornblower Award for a First Book: Alexander Wood, Building the Metropolis: Architecture, Construction, and Labor in New York City, 1880-1935 (The University of Chicago Press)
Find more details and the video of the awards ceremony here.
2025-2026 is the 31st year of the New York City Book Awards! This year’s awards were generously underwritten by Ellen M. Iseman. She dedicated this year’s ceremony in memory of Warren Wechsler, who served as a book awards juror from 2014 and 2019 and as chair of the jury from 2016 to 2019. This year’s Hornblower Award was generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.
Thanks to our twelve partner bookstores for spreading the word about the awards! Pick up your copies of the winning books at one near you:
The Astoria Bookshop – 36-19 30th Street, Astoria 11106
Barnes & Noble Union Square – 33 East 17th Street, NYC 10003
Barnes & Noble Upper East Side – 1550 Third Avenue (87th Street), NYC 10128
Barnes & Noble Upper West Side – 2289 Broadway (82nd Street), NYC 10024
Books Are Magic - 225 Smith Street, Brooklyn 11231
Community Bookstore – 143 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn 11215
The Corner Bookstore – 1313 Madison Avenue (93rd Street), NYC 10128
P&T Knitwear - 180 Orchard Street, NYC 10002
Strand Bookstore Upper West Side - 2020 Broadway, NYC 10023
Three Lives & Company Booksellers – 154 West 10th Street, NYC 10014
Topos Too Bookstore Cafe Bar - 59-22 Myrtle Avenue, Ridgewood (Queens), NY 11385
WORD Brooklyn - 126 Franklin Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222
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