Winners of Russia's 'Book of the Year' 2026 Awarded
The winners of the 2026 National Book of the Year competition were awarded at a ceremony in the Stanislavsky Electric Theatre, coinciding with the opening of the 39th Moscow International Book Fair. The event honored 12 categories, including Prose, Poetry, and Non-fiction, with multiple titles recognized in several categories.
Consensus
- The National Book of the Year 2026 award ceremony took place on September 2, 2026.
- The ceremony was held at the Stanislavsky Electric Theatre in Moscow.
- The event coincided with the opening of the 39th Moscow international book fair (MMKYa-2026).
- The competition is organized by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of Russia in cooperation with the Russian Book Union.
- More than 1,500 books were submitted from 140 publishing organizations across 37 cities in Russia.
- The shortlist included 53 publications from 35 publishing organizations located in five Russian cities.
- The competition featured 12 categories, including 'Prose of the Year', 'Poetry of the Year', 'Non-fiction', and 'Humanitas'.
- In the 'Prose of the Year' category, two works were recognized: Margarita Simonian's 'In the Beginning Was the Word — at the End Will Be the Digit' and Sergei Shargunov's 'Popovich'.
- The Grand Prize in the 'Book of the Year' category was awarded to a 30-volume collection titled 'Old Testament. New Testament. Sacred Texts Illustrated by Contemporary Artists' published by Vita Nova (St. Petersburg).
- The award ceremony was attended by prominent cultural and publishing figures.
Points of divergence
- The 'Cultural Code' special nomination was established as part of the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia. — vm
- The Grand Prize in 'Book of the Year' was awarded to the 30-volume 'Old Testament. New Testament' collection published by Vita Nova, St. Petersburg. — interfax
- In the 'Poetry of the Year' category, two winners were named: 'New Blok. Anthology of Donbass Poetry 2022–2025' and the series 'Almost Complete Works' by AST: KPD. — interfax
- The 'Humanitas' award went to Lev Danilkin's 'Palazzo Madame: The Imaginary Museum of Irina Antonova', with a special diploma awarded to Evgene Kuznetsova's 'To the Brave, Madness' by Eksmo. — interfax
- The 'Children of the 21st Century' award went to Maria Bakharova's 'Bread. The Taste of the World' with illustrations by Anna Desnitskaya, published by Samokat. — interfax
- The award in the 'Prose of the Year' was presented by Marina Bрусникина, artistic director of the Russian Academic Youth Theatre and People's Artist of the Russian Federation. — vm
- The President of the Russian Book Union, Sergey Stepashin, congratulated the winner of the Grand Prize. — interfax
Coverage (2 sources)
- Laureates of the National Competition «Book of the Year» were awarded at the Electroteater Stanislavsky — Вечерняя Москва
- Winners of the National Competition "Book of the Year" Named — Интерфакс