Washington Monthly Announces 2026 Kukula Award Finalists for Nonfiction Book Reviewing

The Washington Monthly announced the finalists for the 2026 Kukula Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Book Reviewing. The prize recognizes reviews of serious books on public affairs, policy, politics, history, and biography. It is the only journalism award dedicated to this category.

Two winners will be named on Monday, June 15. Judges chose the finalists from nearly 80 submissions published in 2025. They selected entries in two categories based on the size of the publication. In the larger-publication category, the finalists are Jacob Bacharach of The New Republic for his review of Enshittification by Cory Doctorow; Rhoda Feng of The New Republic for her review of I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan; Julia M.

Klein of The Atlantic for her review of A Flower Traveled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland; Laura Miller of Slate for her review of Not My Type by E. Jean Carroll; and Katy Waldman of The New Yorker for her review of three books on modern-day feminism by Kate Mason, Laura Brown, Kristina O’Neill, and Steph Wagner.

In the smaller-publication category, the finalists are Diya Isha of The Swaddle for her review of Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy; Michael J.

U.S. Intellectual History Book Review for his review of two essay collections on social criticism and history by Adam Shatz and George Scialabba; Dan Piepenbring of Harper’s magazine for his review of three new books with interwoven themes by Cory Doctorow, Ken Wilson, and Adrienne Mayor; Paul Schofield of Jacobin magazine for his review of The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism by Matt McManus; and Ed Simon of The Los Angeles Review of Books for his review of Believe by Ross Douthat.

” Glastris has been married to Kukula Kapoor Glastris for 31 years.