NationalBookAward

2023 – National Book Awards

From the National Book Award site: “The mission of the National Book Foundation is to celebrate the best literature published in the United States, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture.” A panel of judges selects a Longlist of ten titles per category for The National Book Awards, which is then narrowed to five Finalists. Each Finalist receives a prize of $1,000, a medal, and a Judge’s citation. Winners receive $10,000 and a bronze sculpture.” Click on the highlighted titles for more information about the books. The National Book Foundation announced the winners (indicated in red) of the National Book Awards at a ceremony in New York on Wednesday, November 15.

Fiction
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Chain-Gang All-Stars (Pantheon Books)

Aaliyah Bilal, Temple Folk (Simon & Schuster)
Paul Harding, This Other Eden (Norton)
Hanna Pylväinen, The End of Drum-Time (Holt)
Justin Torres, Blackouts (FSG)

Nonfiction
Ned Blackhawk, The Rediscovery of America (Yale University Press)
Cristina Rivera Garza, Liliana’s Invincible Summer (Hogarth)
Christina Sharpe, Ordinary Notes (FSG)
Raja Shehadeh, We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I (Other Press)
John Vaillant, Fire Weather (Knopf)

Translated Literature
Bora Chung, Cursed Bunny, Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur (Algonquin Books)
David Diop, Beyond the Door of No Return, Translated from the French by Sam Taylor (FSG)
Stênio Gardel, The Words That Remain, Translated from the Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato (New Vessel Press)
Pilar Quintana, Abyss, Translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman (World Editions)
Astrid Roemer, On a Woman’s Madness, Translated from the Dutch by Lucy Scott (Two Lines Press)

 

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2022 – National Book Awards

From the National Book Award site: “The National Book Awards were established in 1950 to celebrate the best writing in America. A panel of judges selects a Longlist of ten titles per category, which is then narrowed to five Finalists, and a Winner is announced at the Awards Ceremony in the fall. Each Finalist receives a prize of $1,000, a medal, and a Judge’s citation. Winners receive $10,000 and a bronze sculpture.”

Click on the highlighted titles for more information about the books. The winners were divulged on November 16, indicated in red.

 

Fiction
Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch 
Gayl Jones, The Birdcatcher 
Jamil Jan Kochai, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories 
Sarah Thankam Mathews, All This Could Be Different 
Alejandro Varela, The Town of Babylon 

Nonfiction
Meghan O’Rourke, The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness
Imani Perry, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
David Quammen, Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus
Ingrid Rojas Contreras, The Man Who Could Move Clouds: A Memoir
Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

Translated Literature
A New Name: Septology VI-VII, by Jon Fosse, trans. from the Norwegian by Damion Searls
Kibogo, by Scholastique Mukasonga, trans. from the French by Mark Polizzotti
Jawbone, by Mónica Ojeda, trans. from the Spanish by Sarah Booker
Seven Empty Houses, by Samanta Schweblin, trans. from the Spanish by Megan McDowell
Scattered All Over the Earth, by Yoko Tawada, trans. from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani

Young People’s Literature
Kelly Barnhill, The Ogress and the Orphans 
Sonora Reyes, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School 
Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile, Victory. Stand! 
Sabaa Tahir, All My Rage 
Lisa Yee, Maizy Chen’s Last Chance     

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

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National Book Awards – 2020

The mission of the National Book Foundation is to celebrate the best literature in America. NBF is guided by the belief that books and literature are for everyone, no matter the geographic location, level of economics, or ethnicity of the readers.

Click on the highlighted titles for more information about the books.
The winners are highlighted in red.

Fiction:

Nonfiction:

Young People’s Literature:

Finalists for Translated Literature: (Recently, I had occasion to read a book in a language that was not my native tongue. I had a copy of the original on my shelf and compared the two. While 90% of the book was beautifully translated, there were sections where the translator didn’t quite ‘get’ the nuances of the language. Bravo to those translators that do it well, because it can make all the difference in the reader’s perception of the original intent of the author.)

Congratulations to all the finalists and winners!

 

 

 

 

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National Book Awards – 2019

 

The prestigious National Book Awards2019 for last year's books were bestowed in New York City on November 20, 2019. There were 25 finalists – five each in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People's Literature.

 

Take a look at the finalists and winners (indicated in red) and click on the titles to learn more about the books:
 

FINALISTS FOR FICTION:

 

FINALISTS FOR NONFICTION:

 

FINALISTS FOR POETRY:

 

FINALISTS FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE: 

 

FINALISTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE:

 

Congratulations to all!!!

 

 

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National Book Awards – 2018

 

Selected from these lists of five finalists in each category, the winners were named at the annual National Book Awards ceremony on November 14, 2018. (Indicated in red.) Please click on the book titles to discover more about the books.
 

FICTION

A Lucky Man    Jamel Brinkley

Florida Lauren Groff

Where the Dead Sit Talking   Brandon Hobson

The Great Believers  Rebecca Makkai

The Friend  Sigrid Nunez

 

NONFICTION

The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation    Colin G. Calloway

American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic Victoria Johnson

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth Sarah Smarsh

The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke    Jeffrey C. Stewart

We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights   Adam Winkler

  

YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE

The Poet X   Elizabeth Acevedo

The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge  T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin

The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle   Leslie Connor

The Journey of Little Charlie   Christopher Paul Curtis

Hey, Kiddo   Jarrett J. Krosoczka

 

 Congratulations to all the finalists and winners!  🙂

 

Click here to browse all of the 2018 National Book Award Finalists.

 

 

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