Current and historical winners of the National Book Awards, with links to further information at BookBrowse.

National Book Awards

First awarded in 1950, the National Book Awards recognize the best of American literature. The Awards are announced in November.

Current and Previous Award Winners:

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002

• 2024

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  James  by  Percival Everett
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Soldiers and Kings  by  Jason De León
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Something About Living  by  Lena Khalaf Tuffaha
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Kareem Between  by  Shifa Saltagi Safadi
  
  National Book Award for Translated Literature:
  Taiwan Travelogue  by  Shuang-zi Yang

• 2023

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Blackouts  by  Justin Torres
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The Rediscovery of America  by  Ned Blackhawk
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  From Unincorporated Territory [åmot]  by  Craig Santos Perez
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  A First Time for Everything  by  Dan Santat
  
  National Book Award for Translated Literature:
  The Words That Remain  by  Stênio Gardel

• 2022

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  The Rabbit Hutch  by  Tess Gunty
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  South to America  by  Imani Perry
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Punks  by  John Keene
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  All My Rage  by  Sabaa Tahir
  
  National Book Award for Translated Literature:
  Seven Empty Houses  by  Samanta Schweblin

• 2021

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Hell of a Book  by  Jason Mott
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  All That She Carried  by  Tiya Miles
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Floaters  by  Martín Espada
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Last Night at the Telegraph Club  by  Malinda Lo
  
  National Book Award for Translated Literature:
  Winter in Sokcho  by  Elisa Dusapin

• 2020

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Interior Chinatown  by  Charles Yu
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The Dead Are Arising  by  Les Payne
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  DMZ Colony  by  Don Mee Choi
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  King and the Dragonflies  by  Kacen Callender
  
  National Book Award for Translated Literature:
  Tokyo Ueno Station  by  Yu Miri

• 2019

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Trust Exercise  by  Susan Choi
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The Yellow House  by  Sarah M. Broom
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Sight Lines  by  Arthur Sze
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  1919 The Year That Changed America  by  Martin W. Sandler
  
  National Book Award for Translated Literature:
  Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming  by  László Krasznahorkai (author), Ottilie Mulzet (translator)

• 2018

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  The Friend  by  Sigrid Nunez
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The New Negro  by  Jeffrey C. Stewart
  
  National Book Award for Autobiography:
  Belonging  by  Nora Krug
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Indecency  by  Justin Phillip Reed
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  The Poet X  by  Elizabeth Acevedo
  
  National Book Award for Translated Literature:
  The Emissary  by  Yoko Tawada (author), Margaret Mitsutani (Translator)

• 2017

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Sing, Unburied, Sing  by  Jesmyn Ward
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The Future Is History  by  Masha Gessen
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Half-light  by  Frank Bidart
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Far from the Tree  by  Robin Benway

• 2016

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  The Underground Railroad  by  Colson Whitehead
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Stamped from the Beginning  by  Ibram X. Kendi
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  The Performance of Becoming Human  by  Daniel Borzutzky
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  March  by  John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell

• 2015

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Fortune Smiles  by  Adam Johnson
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Between the World and Me  by  Ta-Nehisi Coates
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Voyage of the Sable Venus  by  Robin Coste Lewis
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Challenger Deep  by  Neal Shusterman

• 2014

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Redeployment  by  Phil Klay
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Age of Ambition  by  Evan Osnos
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Faithful and Virtuous Night  by  Louise Glück
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Brown Girl Dreaming  by  Jacqueline Woodson

• 2013

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  The Good Lord Bird  by  James McBride
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The Unwinding  by  George Packer
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Incarnadine  by  Mary Szybist
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  The Thing About Luck  by  Cynthia Kadohata

• 2012

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  The Round House  by  Louise Erdrich
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Behind the Beautiful Forevers  by  Katherine Boo
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Bewilderment  by  David Ferry
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Goblin Secrets  by  William Alexander

• 2011

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Salvage the Bones  by  Jesmyn Ward
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The Swerve  by  Stephen Greenblatt
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Head Off & Split  by  Nikky Finney
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Inside Out and Back Again  by  Thanhha Lai

• 2010

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Lord of Misrule  by  Jaimy Gordon
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Just Kids  by  Patti Smith
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Lighthead  by  Terrance Hayes
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Mockingbird  by  Kathryn Erskine

• 2009

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Let the Great World Spin  by  Colum McCann
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The First Tycoon  by  T.J. Stiles
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Transcendental Studies  by  Keith Waldrop
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Claudette Colvin  by  Phillip M Hoose

• 2008

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Shadow Country (Modern Library)  by  Peter Matthiessen
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The Hemingses of Monticello  by  Annette Gordon-Reed
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Fire to Fire  by  Mark Doty
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  What I Saw And How I Lied  by  Judy Blundell

• 2007

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Tree of Smoke  by  Denis Johnson
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Legacy of Ashes  by  Tim Weiner
  
  National Book Award for Poetry:
  Time and Materials  by  Robert Hass
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian  by  Sherman Alexie

• 2006

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  The Echo Maker  by  Richard Powers
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The Worst Hard Time  by  Timothy Egan
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation  by  M. T. Anderson

• 2005

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Europe Central  by  William Vollman
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  The Year of Magical Thinking  by  Joan Didion
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  The Penderwicks  by  Jeanne Birdsall

• 2004

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  The News from Paraguay  by  Lily Tuck
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Arc of Justice  by  Kevin Boyle
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  Godless  by  Pete Hautman

• 2003

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  The Great Fire  by  Shirley Hazzard
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Waiting for Snow in Havana  by  Carlos Eire
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  The Canning Season  by  Polly Horvath

• 2002

  
  National Book Award for Fiction:
  Three Junes  by  Julia Glass
  
  National Book Award for Nonfiction:
  Master of the Senate  by  Robert Caro
  
  National Book Award for Young People's Literature:
  The House of The Scorpion  by  Nancy Farmer