Geraldine Brooks to Receive 2025 LoC Fiction Prize

The Library of Congress (LoC) has announced that the 2025 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction will be awarded to Geraldine Brooks, the author of the historical-fiction novels March (2005) and People of the Book (2008), at the National Book Festival on Sept. 6.

The annual Prize for American Fiction honors an American literary writer whose body of work is “distinguished by not only its mastery of the art, but also its originality of thought and imagination,” per the LoC press release, and which has “told us something about the American experience.”

“Geraldine Brooks invites readers into her narratives with such grace and infectious energy and helps us understand the lives of characters who might have lived in other times and other places,” said acting Librarian of Congress Robert Randolph Newlen in the announcement. “She has moved millions of American readers, and readers around the world.”

Brooks, who is also a journalist, was awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for March. Her other bestselling novels include Caleb’s Crossing, The Secret Chord, Horse and Year of Wonders, which has been translated into more than 30 languages. 

Now in its 25th year, The Library of Congress National Book Festival returns on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public.