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:  2024202320172016201520142013


4 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 1983

Winner - Children’s Books

Marked By Fire
by Joyce Carol Thomas

    List Price: $15.99
    Legacy% (Oct 30, 2007)
    Fiction, Hardcover, 192 pages
    Target Age Group: Middle Grade
    More Info

    Winner - Fiction

    Winner - First Novel

    Finalist - Children’s Books