Brooklyn Public Library Announces 2025 Book Prize Winners

Photo: Vincent Tullo

Fiction Prize Awarded to Emet North for In Universes

Nonfiction Prize Awarded to Mosab Abu Toha for Forest of Noise

Brooklyn Public Library announced the winners of the 2025 Book Prize today, awarding the fiction prize to Emet North for In Universes and the nonfiction prize to Mosab Abu Toha for Forest of Noise.

“The 2025 Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize winners have both written profoundly moving works about our future. Emet North invites us to imagine how interlocking decisions affect our paths, building new universes at each turn. And likewise, in the darkest of times with his world literally collapsing around him, Poet Mosab Abu Toha continues to write and find hope through memories,” said Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO, Brooklyn Public Library. “Congratulations to these extraordinary writers, all the nominees, and the librarians who fight every day to protect our readers and authors alike.”

In their novel In Universes, Emet North introduces us to Raffi who works in a cosmology lab searching for dark matter. For reasons they don’t understand, Raffi is fascinated by Britt—a queer sculptor—and is soon fixated on the idea that there is an alternative universe where they mean as much to Britt as she does to them.

“It’s hard to put into words what libraries mean to me but suffice it to say that when I was in elementary school, I was asked to choose what three things I would bring with me to the moon, and my first answer was “the library.” (An answer I stand by to this day.) Libraries are the place I have always felt most immediately at home,” said Emet North. “When I first dreamt of writing a book, so many years ago, I didn’t dream about finding it on the shelf at the bookstore—I imagined the book living, instead, on the shelves of libraries across the country. All this to say, there’s truly no more meaningful award to me than the Brooklyn Public Library Prize. I’m so honored to be in the company of all the phenomenal writers the award has acknowledged over the past decade, and I’m beyond grateful to the librarians who picked my weird, queer, debut novel out of so many brilliant books. Thank you.”

Librarian Gretchen Alexander chaired the fiction committee. “Emet North has a kaleidoscopic professional background, ranging from quantum physics to horse training. This experience informs their writing which is prismatic, queer, and hopeful about the endless potential for interpersonal connection in our world,” she said.

In Gaza, award-winning Poet Mosab Abu Toha witnessed the darkest of times. His home and a library he had built for the community to use were destroyed.  Somehow, he kept writing. Forest of Noise is a collection of those poems—which are both urgent and whimsical all at once.

“It is a profound honor to receive a book prize that bears the name of a library. Knowing that this recognition comes from librarians and library staff makes it even more meaningful, especially to someone like me, who founded two libraries in Gaza. Both were destroyed by Israel over the past two years. And yet, to be awarded the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize gives me hope even in the face of loss that we can still write books, that we can build libraries, that we can honor and celebrate writers who believe in the dignity and resilience of humanity,” said Abu Toha.

Brynna Ververs, who oversees the Library’s welcome center, chaired the nonfiction committee. “In a collection that is both urgent and intimate, Mosab Abu Toha cuts through the “noise” of political discourse by inviting readers into his world and inspiring them to imagine not only the inner lives of all Gazans, but of all people whose lives are fractured by violence. Stark, immediate, and graceful, these poems speak to the heart of Brooklyn’s vast and global-thinking community as we navigate an uncertain world and seek to understand our part in healing it,” she said.

Nearly 100 books were nominated for the Brooklyn Library Book Prize this year which celebrates writing that captures the spirit of Brooklyn.  They included stories of immigration and survival, of love and rejection, of friends and neighbors.

The Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize was established in 2015 by the Brooklyn Eagles, a group of young and engaged Brooklynites who are passionate about Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) and work to engage new patrons and build a vibrant community around the resources the library offers. Past winners include Kaveh Akbar, Blair L.M. Kelley, Catherine Lacey, Lamya H, Xochitl Gonzalez, Threa Almontaser, Carmen Maria Machado, Ocean Vuong and Miriam Toews.

About Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn Public Library is one of the nation’s largest library systems and among New York City’s most democratic institutions. Providing innovative library service for over 125 years, we support personal advancement, foster civic literacy, and strengthen the fabric of community among the more than 2.6 million individuals who call Brooklyn home. We are a global leader in the fight for the freedom to read through our Books Unbanned initiative, offering teens across the US access to the library’s online catalog. We provide nearly 65,000 free programs a year with writers, thinkers, artists, and educators—from around the corner and around the world. And we give patrons millions of opportunities to enjoy one of life’s greatest satisfactions: the joy of a good book.