Kolkata-born author Megha Majumdar was named a finalist for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction for her forthcoming novel A Guardian and a Thief.
The National Book Foundation, which celebrates the best literature published in the United States, revealed 25 finalists across five categories — Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature.
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New York-based Majumdar, was shortlisted for the award in 2020 for her debut A Burning. This year she is one of five authors shortlisted this year in the Fiction category.
Her new novel unfolds over the course of a single week in a near-future Kolkata devastated by climate change and food scarcity. It follows two families whose lives become intertwined after a desperate theft — revealing how far people will go to protect those they love amid catastrophe.
The novel, which took six years to complete, was also recently shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction.
Majumdar’s debut, A Burning, was an international bestseller and a finalist for multiple literary honors. With A Guardian and a Thief, she continues her examination of justice, survival, and moral complexity in an increasingly fractured world.
The 2025 National Book Award winners will be announced on Nov. 19 at the 76th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. Winners in each category receive $10,000 and a bronze medal, while finalists are awarded $1,000.
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