The following titles are recognized by the Arkansas Center for the Book as twenty-one of the best titles published in 2025 or 2026 written by Arkansans or about the state of Arkansas.
- August Lane: A Novel by Regina Black
published 2025 by Grand Central Publishing
Adult Fiction
- The Cannibal Owl: A Novella by Aaron Gwyn
published 2025 by Belle Point Press
Adult Fiction
- Carlotta's Special Dress: How a Walk to School Changed Civil Rights History written by Carlotta Walls LaNier and Lisa Frazier Page and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
published 2026 by Brown Young Readers
Children's
- Cave Mountain: A Disappearance and a Reckoning in the Ozarks by Benjamin Hale
published 2026 by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Adult Nonfiction
- Climate: How Wladimir Koppen Studied Weather and Drew the First Climate Maps written by Darcy Pattison and illustrated by Peter Willis
published in 2025 by Mims House
Children's
- Conversations with Ellen Gilchrist edited by Tracy Carr
published in 2025 by University Press of Mississippi
Adult Nonfiction
- Cope Field by T. L. Simpson
published in 2025 by Flux
Young Adult Fiction
- Covered Buttons: A Novel by Stephanie N. Saunders
published in 2026 by Mercer University Press
Adult Fiction
- Eat Like the Hogs: A Collection of Favorite Recipes from Razorback Greats edited by Karen Van Horn and Becky Bull
published in 2025 by The University of Arkansas Press
Adult Nonfiction
- Feild Notes on Little Rock: History and Memoir, 1622-2024 by Charles R. Feild
published in 2025 by Nandina Books
Adult Nonfiction
- I, Medusa: A Novel by Ayana Gray
published in 2025 by Random House
Adult Fiction
- The Life and Poetry of Frank Stanford by James E. McWilliams
published in 2025 by The University of Arkansas Press
Adult Nonfiction
- Mississippi Blue 42 by Eli Cranor
published in 2025 by Soho Crime
Adult Fiction
- The Natural Order of Things: Poems by Donika Kelly
published in 2025 by Graywolf Press
Poetry
- The Night That Finds Us All by John Hornor Jacobs
published in 2025 by G. P. Putnam's Sons
Adult Fiction
- So! You Want to Start a Business: A Fun and Practical Workbook for Young Entrepreneurs by Latina R. Sheard
Independently published in 2025
Middle Grade Nonfiction
- Straw in the Sun: A Memoir by Charlie May Simon; edited by Aleshia O'Neal
published in 2025 by The University of Arkansas Press
Adult Nonfiction
- This Leaves Me Okay: Race, Legacy, and Letters from My Grandmother by Walter Pryor
published in 2025 by Heliotrope Books
Adult Nonfiction
- Though Silent They Speak: Arkansas Gravestones and Graveyards by Abby Burnett
published in 2025 by University Press of Mississippi
Adult Nonfiction
- When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain
Young Adult Fiction
- When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America's Black Botanical Legacy by Beronda L. Montgomery
published in 2026 by Henry Holt and Company
Adult Nonfiction