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When author Rabih Alameddine accepted his National Book Award for Fiction on Wednesday night, he thanked his agent, his editor and early readers of his work. He also thanked his psychiatrist, his drug dealers and "all gastrointestinal doctors."

"I guarantee you that I wouldn't have been able to write a single word in the last 10 years without their help," he said. "There would have been no movement."

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)

which is about a philosophy teacher who lives with his aging and sharp-tongued mother.

Other winners similarly balanced the festive feeling of the night with heavier global concerns. Writer Omar El Akkad won the non-fiction prize for his book 

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

, which is a critique of the West's involvement in the war in Gaza. "It's very difficult to think in celebratory terms about a book that was written in response to a genocide," he said.

Full list of winners and finalists below:

North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This 

Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy

Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care

When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World

The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems 

The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story 

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Andrew Limbong

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Author Rabih Alameddine won for his novel 

. Other winners include a book for young people about orphans on the run in Iran during World War II.

Author Rabih Alameddine won for his novel The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother). Other winners include a book for young people about orphans on the run in Iran during World War II.


Here are the winners of the 2025 National Book Awards

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