List of winners of the National Book Award

These authors and books have won the annual National Book Awards, awarded to American authors by the National Book Foundation based in the United States.

History of categories The National Book Awards were first awarded to four 1935 publications in May 1936. Contrary to that historical fact, the National Book Foundation currently recognizes only a history of purely literary awards that begins in 1950. The pre-war awards and the 1980 to 1983 graphics awards are covered below following the main list of current award categories.

There have been five award categories since 2018: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Young People's Literature, and Translated Literature. The main list below is organized by the current award categories and by year.

The categories' winners are selected from hundreds of preliminary nominees – "from 150 titles (Translated Literature) to upwards of 600 titles (Nonfiction)." Since 2013, a long list of ten entries for each of the categories has been selected and announced in September, followed by five finalists for each category in October, with the year's winners announced in November.

Repeat winners and split awards are covered at the bottom of the page.

Current award categories

This section covers awards starting in 1950 in the five current categories as defined by their names. Some awards in "previous categories" may have been equivalent except in name.

Fiction

General fiction for adult readers is a National Book Award category that has been continuous since 1950, with multiple awards for a few years beginning 1980. From 1935 to 1941, there were six annual awards for novels or general fiction and the "Bookseller Discovery", the "Most Original Book"; both awards were sometimes given to a novel. +National Book Award for Fiction winners, 1950 to 1979YearAuthorTitleRef.195019511952From Here to Eternity1953Invisible Man195419551956Ten North Frederick1957195819591960Goodbye, Columbus 196119621963Morte d'Urban19641965Herzog1966196719681969Steps1970them1971Mr. Sammler's Planet19721973ChimeraAugustus1974Gravity's Rainbow1975Dog Soldiers1976J R19771978Blood Tie1979Going After Cacciato

Dozens of new categories were introduced in 1980, including "General fiction", hardcover and paperback, which are both listed here. The comprehensive "Fiction" genre and hard-or-soft format were both restored three years later. +National Book Award for Fiction winners, 1980–1983YearCategoryAuthorTitleRef.1980HardcoverSophie's ChoicePaperback1981HardcoverPlains SongPaperback1982HardcoverRabbit is RichPaperbackSo Long, See You Tomorrow1983HardcoverPaperback The comprehensive "Fiction" category returned in 1984. +National Book Award for Fiction winners, 1984 to presentYearAuthorTitleRef1984Victory Over Japan: A Book of Stories1985White Noise1986World's Fair1987Paco's Story1988Paris Trout1989Spartina1990Middle Passage1991Mating1992All the Pretty Horses199319941995Sabbath's Theater1996Ship Fever and Other Stories1997Cold Mountain1998Charming Billy1999Waiting2000In America20012002Three Junes200320042005Europe Central20062007Tree of Smoke2008Shadow Country2009Let the Great World Spin2010Lord of Misrule2011Salvage the Bones201220132014Redeployment2015Fortune Smiles20162017Sing, Unburied, Sing20182019Trust Exercise2020Interior Chinatown2021Hell of a Book20222023Justin TorresBlackouts2024Percival EverettJames2025Rabih AlameddineThe True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)

Nonfiction

General nonfiction for adult readers is a National Book Award category continuous only from 1984, when the general award was restored after two decades of awards in several nonfiction categories. From 1935 to 1941 there were six annual awards for general nonfiction, two for biography, and the Bookseller Discovery or Most Original Book was sometimes nonfiction. +National Book Award for Nonfiction winners, 1950–1959YearAuthorTitleRef.1950Ralph L. RuskThe Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson1951Newton ArvinHerman Melville1952Rachel CarsonThe Sea Around Us1953Bernard De Voto,The Course of Empire1954Bruce CattonA Stillness at Appomattox1955Joseph Wood KrutchThe Measure of Man1956Herbert KublyAn American in Italy1957George F. KennanRussia Leaves the War1958Catherine Drinker BowenThe Lion and the Throne1959J. Christopher HeroldMistress to an Age: A Life of Madame de Staël Multiple nonfiction categories were introduced in 1964, initially Arts and Letters; History and (Auto)Biography; and Science, Philosophy and Religion. See also Contemporary and General Nonfiction. The comprehensive "Nonfiction" genre was restored twenty years later. +National Book Award for Nonfiction winners, 1984 to presentYearAuthorTitleRef.1984Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy, 1833–18451985Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families1986Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape198719881989From Beirut to Jerusalem1990: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance1991Freedom, Vol. 1: Freedom in the Making of Western Culture1992Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story1993United States: Essays 1952–19921994How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter19951996: God, My Father, and the War that Came Between Us1997American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson1998Slaves in the Family1999Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II2000In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex2001: An Atlas of Depression2002Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson2003Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy2004Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age20052006: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl2007Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA2008: An American Family2009: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt2010Just Kids2011The Swerve: How the World Became Modern2012Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity2013: An Inner History of the New America2014Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China2015Between the World and Me2016Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America2017The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia201820192020 and Tamara Payne: The Life of Malcolm X2021All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake2022South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon To Understand the Soul of a Nation2023Ned BlackhawkThe Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the unmaking of US history2024Jason De LeónSoldiers and Kings2025Omar El AkkadOne Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

Poetry

+National Book Award for Poetry winners, 1950 to presentYearAuthorTitleRef.1950Paterson: Book Three and Selected Poems19511952Collected Poems1953Collected Poems, 1917–19521954Collected Poems195519561957Things of This World1958Promises: Poems, 1954–19561959Words for the Wind1960Life Studies19611962Poems1963Traveling Through the Dark1964Selected Poems19651966Buckdancer's Choice1967Nights and Days19681969His Toy, His Dream, His Rest19701971To See, To Take1972Selected Poems1973Collected Poems, 1951–19711974Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971–19721975Presentation Piece1976Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror1977Collected Poems, 1930–197619781979Mirabell: Books of Numbers1980Ashes: Poems New and Old19811982Life Supports: New and Collected Poems1983Selected PoemsCountry Music: Selected Early Poems Award eliminated1991What Work Is1992New and Selected Poems1993Garbage19941995Passing Through: The Later Poems1996Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey1997Effort at Speech: New and Selected Poems1998This Time: New and Selected Poems1999AiVice: New and Selected Poems2000Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–20002001Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry2002In the Next Galaxy2003The Singing2004Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965–20032005Migration: New and Selected Poems2006Splay Anthem2007Time and Materials: Poems, 1997–20052008Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems2009Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy2010Lighthead2011Head Off & Split2012Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations2013Incarnadine2014Faithful and Virtuous Night2015Voyage of the Sable Venus20162017Half-light: Collected Poems 1965–20162018Indecency2019Sight Lines2020DMZ Colony2021Floaters2022Punks: New & Selected Poems2023Craig Santos Perezfrom unincorporated territory [åmot]2024Lena Khalaf TuffahaSomething About Living2025Patricia SmithThe Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems

Young People's Literature

+National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners, 1996 to presentYearAuthorTitleRef.1996Parrot in the Oven: MiVida1997Dancing on the Edge1998Holes1999When Zachary Beaver Came to Town2000Homeless Bird2001True Believer200220032004Godless2005200620072008What I Saw and How I Lied2009Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice2010Mockingbird2011Inside Out and Back Again2012Goblin Secrets20132014Brown Girl Dreaming2015Challenger Deep2016, Nate Powell, and Andrew AydinMarch: Book Three2017Far from the Tree201820191919: The Year That Changed America2020King and the Dragonflies2021Last Night at the Telegraph Club2022All My Rage2023Dan SantatA First Time for Everything2024Shifa Saltagi SafadiKareem Between2025Daniel NayeriThe Teacher of Nomad Land

Translation

+National Book Award for Translation winners, 1967 to presentYearAuthorTitleTranslator(s)Ref.1967Julio CortázarHopscotchGiacomo CasanovaHistory of My Life1968Søren KierkegaardJournals and Papers and Edna Hong1969Italo CalvinoCosmicomics1970CélineCastle to Castle1971Bertolt BrechtSaint Joan of the StockyardsYasunari KawabataThe Sound of the Mountain1972Jacques MonodChance and Necessity1973Virgil1974Lady NijoOctavio PazAlternating CurrentPaul ValéryMonsieur Teste1975Miguel de UnamunoThe Agony of Christianity and Essays on Faith1977Master TungMaster Tung's Western Chamber Romance1978Uwe GeorgeIn the Deserts of This Earth1979César VallejoThe Complete Posthumous Poetry and José Rubia Barcia1980Cesare PaveseHard LaborOsip E. MandelstamComplete Critical Prose and Letters and Constance Link1981Gustave FlaubertArno SchmidtEvening Edged in Gold1982Higuchi IchiyōIn the Shade of Spring LeavesVarious Japanese poetsThe Ten Thousand Leaves: A Translation of The Man'Yoshu, Japan's Premier Anthology of Classical Poetry1983Charles BaudelaireLes Fleurs du mal Award eliminated2018Tawada YokoThe Emissary2019László KrasznahorkaiBaron Wenckheim's Homecoming2020Miri YuTokyo Ueno Station2021Elisa Shua DusapinWinter in Sokcho2022Samanta SchweblinSeven Empty Houses2023Stênio GardelThe Words That RemainBruna Dantas Lobato2024Yang Shuang-ziTaiwan TravelogueLin King2025Gabriela Cabezón CámaraWe Are Green and TremblingRobin Myers

Children's books

+National Book Award for Children's Literature winners, 1969–1979YearCategoryAuthorTitleRef.1969LiteratureJourney from Peppermint Street1970Literature1971Literature1972Literature1973Literature1974Literature1975LiteratureM. C. Higgins the Great1976LiteratureBert Breen's Barn1977Literature 1978Literature and 1979Literature1980Fiction (hardcover)Fiction (paperback) 1981Fiction (hardcover)Fiction (paperback)Ramona and Her MotherNonfiction (hardcover) and Oh, Boy! Babies1982Fiction (hardcover)WestmarkNonfictionPicture Books (hardcover)Outside Over TherePicture Books (paperback)Noah's Ark1983Fiction (hardcover)Homesick: My Own StoryFiction (paperback)Marked by FireNonfictionChimney SweepsPicture Books (hardcover)Miss RumphiusDoctor De SotoPicture Books (paperback) with Betty Fraser (illus.)

Nonfiction subcategories 1964 to 1983

This section covers awards from 1964 to 1983 in categories that differ from the "current categories" in name. Some of them were substantially equivalent to current categories.

Arts and Letters