Physicist Jérémie Harris tackles complex questions in conversational and hilarious language. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be unable to put down a book on quantum mechanics, but this book is a total page-turner that made me question reality, from zombie cats to parallel universes.

— Robyn Doolittle Author and this year's Nonfiction judge

Jamaluddin Aram’s writing evokes striking dissonances and contrasts that toggle between youth and age, between beauty and the grotesque, and between kindness and brutality. The novel’s world is earthy, visceral, sharp-edged, yet also, at times teeters on the brink of hallucination, madness, or, conversely, miracle, in ways that reveal humans’ capacity for belief, and hope.

— Jeanette Lynes Author and this year's Literary Fiction judge

Ambitious and inventive, The Mythmakers is a page-turner about the boundaries of creative work, memory, and identity. I loved Weir’s assured writing, complex characters, and unexpected twists in this debut.

— Ashley Audrain Novelist and this year's Mystery judge