diff --git a/packages/block-library/src/latest-posts/edit.js b/packages/block-library/src/latest-posts/edit.js
index 8fa27ca78686c..2726b5e20d169 100644
--- a/packages/block-library/src/latest-posts/edit.js
+++ b/packages/block-library/src/latest-posts/edit.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import {
 	Spinner,
 	ToggleControl,
 	ToolbarGroup,
+	FormTokenField,
 } from '@wordpress/components';
 import apiFetch from '@wordpress/api-fetch';
 import { addQueryArgs } from '@wordpress/url';
@@ -96,6 +97,22 @@ class LatestPostsEdit extends Component {
 			featuredImageSizeWidth,
 			featuredImageSizeHeight,
 		} = attributes;
+		const suggestions = categoriesList.reduce(
+			( accumulator, category ) => ( {
+				...accumulator,
+				[ category.name ]: category,
+			} ),
+			{}
+		);
+
+		const selectCategories = ( tokens ) => {
+			// Categories that are already will be objects, while new additions will be strings (the name).
+			// allCategories nomalizes the array so that they are all objects.
+			const allCategories = tokens.map( ( token ) =>
+				typeof token === 'string' ? suggestions[ token ] : token
+			);
+			setAttributes( { categories: allCategories } );
+		};
 
 		const inspectorControls = (
 			<InspectorControls>
@@ -209,23 +226,30 @@ class LatestPostsEdit extends Component {
 					<QueryControls
 						{ ...{ order, orderBy } }
 						numberOfItems={ postsToShow }
-						categoriesList={ categoriesList }
-						selectedCategoryId={ categories }
 						onOrderChange={ ( value ) =>
 							setAttributes( { order: value } )
 						}
 						onOrderByChange={ ( value ) =>
 							setAttributes( { orderBy: value } )
 						}
-						onCategoryChange={ ( value ) =>
-							setAttributes( {
-								categories: '' !== value ? value : undefined,
-							} )
-						}
 						onNumberOfItemsChange={ ( value ) =>
 							setAttributes( { postsToShow: value } )
 						}
 					/>
+					{ categoriesList.length > 0 && (
+						<FormTokenField
+							label={ __( 'Categories' ) }
+							value={
+								categories &&
+								categories.map( ( item ) => ( {
+									id: item.id,
+									value: item.name || item.value,
+								} ) )
+							}
+							suggestions={ Object.keys( suggestions ) }
+							onChange={ selectCategories }
+						/>
+					) }
 					{ postLayout === 'grid' && (
 						<RangeControl
 							label={ __( 'Columns' ) }
@@ -417,9 +441,13 @@ export default withSelect( ( select, props ) => {
 	const { getEntityRecords, getMedia } = select( 'core' );
 	const { getSettings } = select( 'core/block-editor' );
 	const { imageSizes, imageDimensions } = getSettings();
+	const catIds =
+		categories && categories.length > 0
+			? categories.map( ( cat ) => cat.id )
+			: [];
 	const latestPostsQuery = pickBy(
 		{
-			categories,
+			categories: catIds,
 			order,
 			orderby: orderBy,
 			per_page: postsToShow,
diff --git a/packages/block-library/src/latest-posts/index.php b/packages/block-library/src/latest-posts/index.php
index 6e96f10461231..346c4085b3c42 100644
--- a/packages/block-library/src/latest-posts/index.php
+++ b/packages/block-library/src/latest-posts/index.php
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ function render_block_core_latest_posts( $attributes ) {
 	add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'block_core_latest_posts_get_excerpt_length', 20 );
 
 	if ( isset( $attributes['categories'] ) ) {
-		$args['category'] = $attributes['categories'];
+		$args['category__in'] = array_column( $attributes['categories'], 'id' );
 	}
 
 	$recent_posts = get_posts( $args );
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ function register_block_core_latest_posts() {
 					'type' => 'string',
 				),
 				'categories'              => array(
-					'type' => 'string',
+					'type' => 'array',
 				),
 				'postsToShow'             => array(
 					'type'    => 'number',