The Chicago Review of Books is proud to announce the shortlist for the 2025 Chicago Review of Books (CHIRBy) Awards!
This year we’re celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the awards! For a decade, the CHIRBy Awards have honored the best fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and short essays and stories that feature Chicago and our strong literary community—with past winners including authors such as Rebecca Makkai, Eve L. Ewing, Mikki Kendall, Erika L. Sánchez, and more.
Eligible titles included works published between September 1, 2024 and September 1, 2025 that were either written by authors living in the Chicagoland area or titles in which Chicago plays a prominent role.
The winners in all four categories will be announced at the CHIRBy Awards! Save the date for Thursday, December 11 as we come together with StoryStudio Chicago and the brightest stars in publishing today at the Fine Arts Building to celebrate the past year in writing. Get your tickets today!
2025 FICTION SHORTLIST
All the Water in the World
By Eiren Caffall
St. Martin’s Press
The Favorites
By Layne Fargo
Random House
True Failure
By Alex Higley
Coffee House Press
Vanishing Daughters
By Cynthia Pelayo
Thomas & Mercer
The El
By Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
Vintage
2025 NONFICTION SHORTLIST
The Mourner’s Bestiary
By Eiren Caffall
Row House Publishing
Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism
By Eve L. Ewing
One World
Chicago’s Fine Arts Building: Music, Magic, and Murder
By Keir Graff
Trope Publishing Co.
Malört: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit
By Josh Noel
Chicago Review Press
The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity
By Sarah Schulman
Thesis
2025 POETRY SHORTLIST
Hardly Creatures
By Rob Macaisa Colgate
Tin House Books
Death is a Mariachi
By Marcy Rae Henry
Bauhan Pub
Blood Wolf Moon
By Elise Paschen
Red Hen Press
The Book of Echoes
By David Gregory Welch
Jackleg Press
Games for Children
By Keith S. Wilson
Milkweed Editions
2025 ESSAY SHORTLIST
“A trans migrant came to Chicago to escape violence. Now she’s afraid of deportation.”
By Adriana Cardona-Maguigad
WBEZ Chicago
“‘There are no places for us to just be free’”
By Tonia Hill
The TRiiBE
Co-produced in partnership with South Side Weekly
“Lives in Transition: Transgender Young Adults Search for Stability in Uncertain Times”
By Mare Ralph
South Side Weekly and City Bureau
“Doors Closing”
By Tal Rosenberg
Chicago Magazine
“Dennis Rodman’s gay 90s”
By Jack M Silverstein
Chicago Reader
2025 SHORTLIST JUDGES
Chair
Michael Welch, Editor-In-Chief
Booksellers
- Rebecca George, Volumes Bookcafe
- Kimberly George, Volumes Bookcafe
- Sarah Hollenbeck, Women & Children First
- Mandy Medley, Pilsen Community Books
- Kristin Ramirez, Exile in Bookville
- Suzy Takacs, The Book Cellar
- Timothy Wurman, Three Avenues Bookshop
- Hannah Madonia, Seminary Co-Op
Chicago Review of Books Staff
- Rachel León, Managing Director
- Adam Morgan, Founding Editor
- Reema Saleh, Daily Editor
- Victor Ladis Schultz, Daily Editor
- Jen St. Jude, Editor-at-Large
- Greg Zimmerman, Daily Editor & Roscoe Books Bookseller
- Karen Bellovich, Daily Editor
- Aaron Wolfson, Daily Editor
