Books Honored by the National Book Foundation

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.

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2 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 1997

Finalist - Nonfiction

My Brother
by Jamaica Kincaid

    Publication Date: Nov 09, 1998
    List Price: $14.00
    Format: Paperback, 208 pages
    Classification: Fiction
    ISBN13: 9780374525620
    Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
    Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
    Parent Company: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group

    Read a Description of My Brother


    Finalist - Poetry

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

      Publication Date: May 01, 1997
      List Price: $21.95
      Format: Paperback, 224 pages
      Classification: Poetry
      ISBN13: 9780807121757
      Imprint: LSU Press
      Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
      Parent Company: Louisiana State University

      Read a Description of The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems