National Book Award: Winners, Finalists and Longlisted Titles
The mission of the National Book Foundation is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of great writing in America. National Book Awards are given five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature.
Here we highlight the winners of African descent. The first African-American writer to win a National Book Award was Ralph Ellison, in 1953, for Invisible Man.
Check Out AALBC’s Coverage of the National Book Awards: 2024 – 2023 – 2017 – 2016 – 2015 – 2014 – 2013
13 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 2023
Finalist - Fiction
Chain Gang All Stars
by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
13-time National Bestseller, Adult Fiction (Hardcover)
- A 2024 National Bestselling Book – Adult Fiction (Hardcover)
- A 2023 National Bestselling Book - Adult Fiction (Hardcover)
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Hurston/Wright Honored Book (2024)
Pantheon Books (Apr 04, 2023)
Fiction, Hardcover, 384 pages
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Finalist - Fiction
Temple Folk
by Aaliyah Bilal
List Price: $26.99Simon & Schuster (Jul 04, 2023)
Fiction, Hardcover, 256 pages
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Finalist - Nonfiction
Ordinary Notes
by Christina Sharpe
List Price: $35.00Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Apr 25, 2023)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 392 pages
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Finalist - Poetry
Suddenly We
by Evie Shockley
List Price: $26.00Wesleyan University Press (Mar 07, 2023)
Poetry, Hardcover, 112 pages
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Finalist - Translated Literature
Beyond the Door of No Return
by David Diop
List Price: $27.00Farrar, Straus and Cudahy (Sep 19, 2023)
Fiction, Hardcover, 256 pages
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Finalist - Translated Literature
On a Woman’s Madness
by Astrid Roemer
List Price: $18.00Two Lines Press (Nov 28, 2023)
Fiction, Paperback, 265 pages
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Finalist - Young People’s Literature
Big
by Vashti Harrison, Illustrated by Vashti Harrison
14-time National Bestseller, Juvenile Fiction
- A 2024 National Bestselling Book – Juvenile Fiction
- A 2023 National Bestselling Book - Juvenile Fiction
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Coretta Scott King Award Winning Book 2024
- Caldecott Medal Winner or Honor 0
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 02, 2023)
Fiction, Hardcover, 60 pages
Target Age Group: Picture Book
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Longlist - Fiction
Holler, Child: Stories
by LaToya Watkins
List Price: $27.00Penguin Publishing Group (Aug 29, 2023)
Fiction, Hardcover, 224 pages
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Longlist - Nonfiction
When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era
by Donovan X. Ramsey
List Price: $30.00One World (Jul 11, 2023)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 448 pages
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Longlist - Nonfiction
I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction
by Kidada E. Williams
List Price: $30.00Bloomsbury Publishing (Jan 17, 2023)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 384 pages
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Longlist - Poetry
Trace Evidence: Poems
by Charif Shanahan
List Price: $16.95Tin House Books (Mar 21, 2023)
Poetry, Paperback, 112 pages
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Longlist - Translated Literature
The Most Secret Memory of Men
by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
List Price: $19.99Other Press (NY) (Sep 26, 2023)
Fiction, Paperback, 496 pages
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Longlist - Young People’s Literature
More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
by Michael G. Long and Yohuru Williams
List Price: $21.99Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Younger Readers (Aug 29, 2023)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 272 pages
Target Age Group: Middle Grade
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