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


2 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 1997

Finalist - Nonfiction

My Brother
by Jamaica Kincaid

    List Price: $14.00
    Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Nov 09, 1998)
    Fiction, Paperback, 208 pages
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    Finalist - Poetry

    The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems
    by Marilyn Nelson

      List Price: $21.95
      LSU Press (May 01, 1997)
      Poetry, Paperback, 224 pages
      More Info