National Book Award: Winners, Finalists and Longlisted Titles

National Book Award Medals

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

8 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 2024

Winner - Fiction

Click for a larger image of James: A Novel

James: A Novel
by Percival Everett

8-time National Bestseller, Adult Fiction (Hardcover)

List Price: $28.00
Doubleday Books (Mar 19, 2024)
Fiction, Hardcover, 320 pages
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Finalist - Fiction

Click for a larger image of Ghostroots: Stories

Ghostroots: Stories
by ’Pemi Aguda

List Price: $26.99
W. W. Norton & Company (May 07, 2024)
Fiction, Hardcover, 224 pages
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Finalist - Translated Literature

Click for a larger image of The Villain’s Dance

The Villain’s Dance
by Fiston Mwanza Mujila

List Price: $16.95
Deep Vellum Publishing (Mar 12, 2024)
Fiction, Paperback, 272 pages
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Finalist - Young People’s Literature

Click for a larger image of The Unboxing of a Black Girl

The Unboxing of a Black Girl
by Angela Shante

List Price: $18.99
Page Street YA (May 07, 2024)
Poetry, Hardcover, 160 pages
Target Age Group: Young Adult
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Longlist - Nonfiction

Click for a larger image of There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
by Hanif Abdurraqib

12-time National Bestseller, Adult Nonfiction (Hardcover)

List Price: $32.00
Random House (Mar 26, 2024)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 352 pages
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Longlist - Poetry

Click for a larger image of Silver: Poems

Silver: Poems
by Rowan Ricardo Phillips

List Price: $26.00
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Mar 05, 2024)
Poetry, Hardcover, 80 pages
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Longlist - Poetry

Click for a larger image of Spectral Evidence: Poems

Spectral Evidence: Poems
by Gregory Pardlo

List Price: $28.00
Alfred A. Knopf (Jan 30, 2024)
Poetry, Hardcover, 128 pages
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Longlist - Young People’s Literature

Click for a larger image of Mid-Air

Mid-Air
by Alicia D. Williams, Illustrated by Danica Novgorodoff

List Price: $17.99
Atheneum (Apr 03, 2024)
Fiction, Hardcover, 336 pages
Target Age Group: Middle Grade
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