The Kirkus Prize, one of the richest prizes in literature, has revealed the finalists for its 2026 edition, and named among the 18 finalists is Zimbabwean author Blessing Musariri. She stands out as the only African to make the shortlist this year.
The writer is nominated for her novel When It’s Your Turn for Midnight in the Young Readers’ Literature category. The book follows fifteen-year-old Chianti Minana, whose world unravels when her mother reveals in a moment of anger that the man she calls Baba is not her biological father.
The Kirkus Prize awards $50,000 annually in each of its fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature categories. Established in 2014, the prize celebrates the longstanding contribution of Kirkus Reviews to the publishing industry and its readers.
“This year’s slate of prize finalists takes readers around the globe while exploring the deepest, most private recesses of the human mind, offering profound windows onto human experience. Each book is beautifully written and/or illustrated, brilliantly conceived, and compulsively readable,” read a statement by Kirkus editor-in-chief Tom Beer.
The winners of this year’s prizes will be announced during a ceremony at Tribeca Rooftop in New York, USA, on Wednesday 7 October 2026. The ceremony will also be livestreamed on Kirkus’ YouTube channel.
Musariri is an award-winning author of short stories, children’s stories, radio plays, screenplays and contemporary adult fiction. Earlier this year When It’s Your Turn for Midnight was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Writing (UK), making it her second year running up for the award, after All That It Ever Meant in 2025. The latter was also listed as a one of “The Best 100 Young Adult Books of The Century (so far)” by Kirkus Reviews in 2025.
