LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER A powerful (The Guardian) reflection on basketball, life, and homefrom the author of the National Book Award finalist A Little Devil in America

Mesmerizing . . . not only the most original sports book Ive ever read but one of the most moving books Ive ever read, period.Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Vulture, Chicago Public Library, BookPage

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Time, The Washington Post, NPR, The Boston Globe, The New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Book Riot, Electric Lit

Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1990s, Hanif Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron James were forged and countless others werent. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tension between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role models, all of which he expertly weaves together with intimate, personal storytelling. Here is where I would like to tell you about the form on my fathers jump shot, Abdurraqib writes. The truth, though, is that I saw my father shoot a basketball only one time.

Theres Always This Year is a triumph, brimming with joy, pain, solidarity, comfort, outrage, and hope. No matter the subject of his keen focuswhether its basketball, or music, or performanceHanif Abdurraqibs exquisite writing is always poetry, always profound, and always a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, our country, and ourselves.

LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION AND THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD