2026 Science + Literature Ceremony

Join the National Book Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and and The Cooper Union for the 2026 Science + Literature Ceremony—celebrating the three remarkable 2025 Science + Literature selected titles in poetry, nonfiction, and fiction: Ancient Light, Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature, and Bog Queen. The program is free and open to the public, and will feature readings and conversation with selected authors Kimberly Blaeser, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, and Anna North. Hosted by Flora Lichtman, host of Science Friday.

The event will be presented in person at Frederick P. Rose Auditorium at The Cooper Union and livestreamed for readers everywhere. Doors will open at 6:00pm, and the program will begin at 6:30pm EST.

Books will be available for purchase on-site, with thanks to Yu & Me Books.

Kimberly Blaeser, founding director of Indigenous Nations Poets and past Wisconsin Poet Laureate, is a multi-genre author. Her six poetry collections include Ancient Light and Résister en dansant/Ikwe-niimi: Dancing Resistance. Her debut short fiction collection, Red Ants, is forthcoming. Blaeser’s honors include the 2025 Poets & Writers’ Writer for Writers Award, Hayden’s Ferry Review’s Indigenous Poets Prize, and Lifetime Achievement Award from Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas. An enrolled member of White Earth Nation, Blaeser is an Anishinaabe activist and environmentalist, Professor Emerita at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and MFA faculty member at Institute of American Indian Arts.

Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian is the curator of mycology at the New York State Museum, as well as faculty with the Bard Pr*son Initiative. Kaishian is the author of Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature, and earned her PhD from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She lives in the Hudson Valley.

Anna North is the author of the novels America Pacifica, The Life and Death of Sophie Stark, and Outlawed, which was an instant New York Times bestseller and Reese's Book Club pick. She is also a senior correspondent at Vox. Her most recent novel, Bog Queen, was a national bestseller.

2026 Science + Literature selection committee: Dr. Aidyl Gonzalez-Serricchio, Daisy Hernández (Chair), Sean Hill, Akil Kumarasamy, and Joseph Osmundson

The National Book Foundation’s Science + Literature program identifies three books annually, across genres, that deepen readers’ understanding of science and technology, and focuses on highlighting the diversity of voices in contemporary science and technology writing. Science + Literature is made possible by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Read more about the Science + Literature program on the National Book Foundation's website.

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