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

National Book Awards Award Winners

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:
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002

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

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