New York Times Book Review

100 Notable Books of 2025

• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, trans. David McKay (New Vessel Press)
• To Smithereens by Rosalyn Drexler (Hagfish)

Best Historical Fiction of 2025

• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, trans. David McKay (New Vessel Press)

 Best Poetry of 2025

• I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken (Copper Canyon Press)
• Bloodmercy by I.S. Jones (Copper Canyon / American Poetry Review)
• Gaza: The Poem Said Its Piece (Bilingual edition) by Nasser Rabah, trans. Ammiel Alcalay, Emna Zghal, and Khalid al-Hilli (City Lights Publishers)

Our Favorite Hidden Gem Books of 2025

• The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana (Biblioasis)
• I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken (Copper Canyon Press)

New York Times / New York Public Library, 2025 Best Illustrated Children’s Book

• Sunday by Marcelo Tolentino, trans. Rahul Bery (Blue Dot Kids Press)

New York Public Library

Best Adult Books of 2025

• I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always by Douglas Kearney (Wave Books)

Best Kids Books of 2025

• Sleep Here, Wake There by Caio Zero (Floris Books)
• Los pantalones de Luisa by Susanna Isern, illus. Esther Gili (NubeOcho)
• Martín Parlanchín by Carmen Mateo, illus. Marisa Morea (NubeOcho

Best New Horror of 2025

• TOP 5: Root Rot by Saskia Nislow (Creature Publishing)

Best New Comics of 2025

• The Dissident Club: Chronicle of a Pakistani Journalist in Exile by Taha Siddiqui, illus. Hubert Maury, trans. David Homel (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Salt Green Death by Katarina Thorsen (Conundrum Press)
• In the End We All Die by Tobias Aeschbacher, trans. Andrew Shields (Helvetiq)
• The Girl Who Flew Away by Lee Dean (Iron Circus Comics)
• Motherlover by Lindsay Ishihiro (Iron Circus Comics)
• The Murder Next Door by Hugh D’Andrade (Street Noise Books)

Publishers Weekly, Best Books of 2025

• TOP 5: Your Name Here by Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff (Deep Vellum / Dalkey Archive Press)
• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, trans. David McKay (New Vessel Press)
• Vaim by Jon Fosse, trans. Damion Searls (Transit Books)
• The New Economy by Gabrielle Calvocoressi (Copper Canyon Press)

Booklist, Editors’ Choice

• Gaza: The Poem Said Its Piece (Bilingual edition) by Nasser Rabah, trans. Ammiel Alcalay, Emna Zghal, and Khalid al-Hilli (City Lights Publishers)
• The Wild Dark: Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light by Craig Childs (Torrey House Press)
• A Fix of Light by Kel Menton (Little Island Books)

Kirkus Reviews, Best Books of 2025

• North Sun: Or, The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford (Deep Vellum / A Strange Object)
• This Unruly Witness: June Jordan’s Legacy by Lauren Muller, Becky Thompson, Dominique C. Hill, and Durell M. Callier (Haymarket Books)
• The Slightly Spooky Tale of Fox and Mole by Cecilia Heikkila, trans. Polly Lawson (Floris Books)
• Astro by Manuel Marsol, trans. Lizzie Davis (Transit Children’s Editions)
• My Home Is in My Backpack by Eugenia Perrella, illus. Angela Salerno (Floris Books)
• Sunday by Marcelo Tolentino (Blue Dot Kids Press)
• Giant by Judith McQuoid (Little Island Books)
• The Edge of the Silver Sea by Alex Mullarky (Floris / Kelpies)
• Solo by Gráinne O'Brien (Little Island Books)

Washington Post

50 Notable Works of Fiction from 2025

• Nova Scotia House by Charlie Porter (Nightboat Books)

  Best Graphic Novels of 2025

• In the End We All Die by Tobias Aeschbacher, trans. Andrew Shields (Helvetiq)

Paris Review, Our Favorite Books of 2025

• Little Lazarus by Michael Bible (CLASH Books)
• Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman (Coffee House Press)

Vulture, Best Books of 2025

• To Smithereens by Rosalyn Drexler (Hagfish)
• Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro, trans. Eve Hill-Agnus
  (Deep Vellum Publishing)
• Worthy of the Event: An Essay by Vivian Blaxell (LittlePuss Press)
• Immemorial by Lauren Markham (Transit Books)

Chicago Public Library, Best of the Best Books 2025

• My Home Is in My Backpack by Eugenia Perrella, illus. Angela Salerno (Floris Books)
• Heart Lamp: Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq, trans. Deepa Bhasthi (And Other Stories)
• North Sun: Or, The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford (Deep Vellum / A Strange Object)
• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, trans. David McKay (New Vessel Press)

Evanston Public Library, 101 Great Books for Kids (2025)

• Lice: How to Survive on Humans by Berta Paramo, trans. Marc Correa Haro (Helvetiq)

Literary Hub, 43 Favorite Books of 2025

• Perfect Victims: And The Politics Of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd (Haymarket Books)
• The National Telepathy by Roque Larraquy, trans. Frank Wynne (Charco Press)
• Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro, trans. Eve Hill-Agnus
  (Deep Vellum Publishing)
• North Sun: Or, The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford (Deep Vellum / A Strange Object)

World Literature Today, 75 Notable Translations of 2025

• Critical Conditions: My Diary of the Syrian Revolution by Hadi Abdullah, trans. Alessandro Columbu (DoppelHouse Press)
• Happy New Years by Maya Arad, trans. Jessica Cohen (New Vessel Press)
• Mother River by Can Xue, trans. Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping (Open Letter)
• The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, trans. David McKay (New Vessel Press)
• The Calf by Leif Høghaug, trans. David M. Smith (Deep Vellum / Fum d'Estampa)
• Spring Mountain: The Complete Poems of Hŏ Nansŏrhŏn by Hŏ Nansŏrhŏn, trans. Ian Haight & T’ae-young Hŏ (White Pine Press)
• In Search of a Face (Bilingual Edition) by Aurélia Lassaque, trans. Madeleine Campbell (White Pine Press)
• In the House, Still Light by Klaus Merz, trans. Marc Vincenz (White Pine Press)
• Gaza: The Poem Said Its Piece (Bilingual edition) by Nasser Rabah, trans. Ammiel Alcalay, Emna Zghal, and Khalid al-Hilli (City Lights Publishers)
• The Jacarandas Whisper by Alberto Ruy-Sánchez, trans. Rhonda Dahl Buchanan (White Pine Press)
• A Hundred Years and a Day: 34 Stories by Tomoka Shibasaki, trans. Polly Barton (Stone Bridge Press)
• Carapace Dancer by Natalia Toledo, trans. Clare Sullivan (Deep Vellum / Phoneme Media)
• Lexicon of Affinities by Ida Vitale, trans. Sean Manning (Charco Press)
• or now I am sitting here growing transparent by Yau Ching, trans. Chenxin Jiang (Zephyr Press)

The Guardian, Best Books of 2025

Fiction

• Nova Scotia House by Charlie Porter (Nightboat Books)

Poetry

• Avidya by Vidyan Ravinthiran (Bloodaxe Books)
• lode by Gillian Allnutt (Bloodaxe Books)

NPR, Books We Love 2025

• The Seeds by Cecily Parks (Alice James Books)
• You Must Take Part in Revolution by Badiucao and Melissa Chan (Street Noise Books)
• The Seers by Sulaiman Addonia (Coffee House Press)
• The New Economy by Gabrielle Calvocoressi Copper Canyon Press)
• Perfect Victims: And The Politics Of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd (Haymarket Books)
• Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero (Copper Canyon Press)
• Heart Lamp: Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq, trans. Deepa Bhasthi (And Other Stories)

TIME, The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025

• Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero (Copper Canyon Press)
• To Smithereens by Rosalyn Drexler (Hagfish)

Artforum, Best of Books 2025

• Worthy of the Event: An Essay by Vivian Blaxell (LittlePuss Press)
• Flower by Ed Atkins (Fitzcarraldo Editions)

them, 32 Best LGBTQ+ Books of 2025

• Realistic Fiction by Anton Solomonik (LittlePuss Press)