Kirkus Prize 2025 honors novel on identity, Iran’s history and ode to belly buttons
A novel exploring identity and loss, a sweeping history of Iran's revolution, and a children's book celebrating the humble belly button have been named this year's winners of the Kirkus Prize. Each received a $50,000 award.
Lucas Schaefer won in the fiction category for "The Slip," which follows a man's search for his long-missing nephew. The nonfiction prize went to Scott Anderson for "King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation," an account of the downfall of the Shah of Iran.
In the young readers' category, Thao Lam received the award for "Everybelly," a playful, illustrated look at belly buttons and the stories they tell.
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Founded in 2014, the Kirkus Prize is administered by the trade publication Kirkus Reviews.
"This year's Kirkus Prize winners bring us vital messages for our time — about the joys of community, the power of self-transformation, and the mutability of history — all delivered through exhilarating prose and pictures," said Kirkus Editor-in-Chief Tom Beer in a statement yesterday (8 October).
The finalists included Angela Flournoy's "The Wilderness"; Nicholas Boggs' "Baldwin: A Love Story," a biography of writer James Baldwin; and "Mother Mary Comes to Me," a memoir by Arundhati Roy.
