Public Information and Communication
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 17, 2025
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Tessa Timperley
402-471-3434
800-307-2665
Shortlist for 2026 One Book One Nebraska Announced
What book will all Nebraskans be encouraged to read in 2025? We will all find out on November 15th at the Nebraska Celebration of Books (N.COB) literary festival.
A mesmerizing dust bowl epic filled with magical realism, a photographic journey across Nebraska, a beautifully written novel about second chances — all stories
with ties to Nebraska—are the finalists for the 2026 One Book One Nebraska statewide reading program. The finalists are:
·
The Antidote: A Novel
by Karen Russell, Knopf, 2025.
·
Nebraska: Under a Big Red Sky
by Joel Sartore, Bison Books, 2006.
·
Our Souls at Night
by Kent Haruf, Knopf, 2016.
The One Book One Nebraska reading program is sponsored by the Nebraska Center
for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and the Nebraska Library Commission. It
encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss the same book,
chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that have a Nebraska theme
or setting. A Nebraska Center for the Book committee selected the three
finalists from a list of nineteen titles nominated by Nebraskans. In the
coming weeks, Nebraska Center for the Book board members will vote on the
2026 selection.
Nebraskans are invited to take part in the Nebraska Celebration of
Books (N.COB) Literary Festival where the choice for the 2026 One Book One Nebraska will be
announced. Held on Saturday, November 15th, from 10:00 am - 5:30 pm, on the second floor of
the UNL City Campus Union and Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center, this event aims to
celebrate Nebraska’s literary heritage and contemporary authors. The festival will honor
the 2025 One Book One Nebraska with an author talk by Tosca Lee, in addition it will feature
2025 Nebraska Book Award winning authors, Nebraska State Poets Jewel Rodgers and Matt Mason,
a writing workshop hosted by Larksong Writers Place, book vendors, and presentation of the
Mildred Bennett Award and Jane Geske Awards. Visit https://bookfestival.nebraska.gov/
for more information about the N.COB festival programming and authors.
The Nebraska Center for the Book
is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s
readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators,
and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to
celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written
word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the national Center
for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an
advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The
mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and
coordination of library and information services, “bringing together people
and information.”
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The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library Commission
are always available on the Library Commission website,
http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.