Congrats to the Winner and finalists of the 2026 Howling Bird Press Nonfiction Contest (listed in alphabetical order)

A profile about the author and winning manuscript will be released on our website in April.

2026 Howling Bird Press Nonfiction Prize Winner

Mellitus: Essays on Up/Rooting by Jennifer Jussel

Finalists

Elegy, 1991 by J. A. Bernstein

The Rabbit Witch Spell Book by Sheri Rysdam

Three Strands: Essays on Love, Food, and Loss by Judith Sharlin

My Ghost Fleet by Faith Shearin

Thank you to all our incredible submitters. We were blown away by the quality of the submissions we received and had an incredibly difficult time narrowing down to these semifinalists and finalists. We appreciate the talent, time, and dedication that goes into putting together such works and look forward to seeing you continue to blow readers away in your future writing endeavors!