The Goethe Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Post-1750s Historical Fiction. The Goethe Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring Victorian, Georgian, Regency, International History, 20th Century, and all the possible historical topics that an author’s imagination can dream up for the Goethe Book Awards division. Our judges from across North America and the U.K. will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

These titles have moved forward in the first look rounds from all 2025 Goethe Late Historical Fiction entries to the 2025 Goethe Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 Goethe Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference. 

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Goethe Book Awards novel competition for Late Historical Fiction!

• Alex Alvin – A Countess From Moscow
• Alice Mcveigh – Marianne: A Sense and Sensibility Sequel
• Alina Rubin – A Girl with a Knife
• Allie Cresswell – Tall Chimneys
• Apple An – Daughter of Blue City: A Novel of Coming-Of-Age Through Revolutionary China
• Art Young – Downeyoshun
• Barbara Southard – Unruly Human Hearts
• BL Smith – The Unpleasantness on Orchard
• Bonnie Suchman – What Remains Is Hope
• Carol Nickles – Thumb Fire Desire
• Carolyn Summer Quinn – Once Upon a Safehouse
• Charlotte Whitney – A Tiny Piece of Blue: A Novel
• Chris Bennett – The Road to Revolution
• Debra Lee – Pullman
• Domnica Radulescu – My Father’s Orchards
• Douglas A. Gosselin – Doctrine of Shadows
• Elise Keitz Harlow – When Bone Melts
• Florence Chien – Hollow Whispers of the Wind
• Gary Gabel – The Constitution Kids
• Jerena Tobiasen – Tsarina’s Jewels
• Jessica Levine – Three Cousins
• Jill G. Hall – On a Sundown Sea: A Novel of Madame Tingley and the Origins of Lomaland
• Joan Fernandez – Saving Vincent: A Novel of Jo Van Gogh
• Joanne Howard – Sleeping in the Sun
• Kathleen Williams Renk – No Coward Soul Have I
• Katie Churchill-King – Prince of Wales Fort 1770
• Kelly Scarborough – Butterfly Games
• Kirsten Mickelwait – The Ashtrays Are Full and the Glasses Are Empty
• Lew Paper – Legacy of Lies: An Historical Thriller
• Linda Cardillo – Paint the Wind
• M. E. Torrey – Fox Creek
• N.J. Mastro – Solitary Walker: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft
• Natalie Musgrave Dossett – Sarita
• Pat Black-Gould and Steve Hardiman – All the Broken Angels
• Radu Guiasu – The Faraway Mountains
• Raquel Y. Levitt – The Seer
• Richard Leslie Brock – The House of Ilya
• Robert Kehlmann – The Rabbi’s Suitcase
• Robert L Jones – The Unbroken Trail
• S. Scott Anderson – The Scott Boys: The Saga of the Scott Family in East Tennessee
• Sabrina Lund – Consequence of Power: Isabella’s Season
• Shawn Hays and Stephen Hays – What Light Was
• Suzanne Uttaro Samuels – Seeds of the Pomegranate
• Thomas M. Wing – In Harm’s Way

Congratulations once more to the 2024 Goethe Grand Prize Winner for Historical Fiction

Abigail’s Song

By Alina Rubin

Click here to see the full list of 2024 Goethe Book Award Winners for Late Historical Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Goethe Book Awards for Post-1750s Historical Fiction!

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2025 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 17 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our annual conference and discover why!