National Book Award: Winners, Finalists and Longlisted Titles
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
4 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 2009
Winner - Young People’s Literature
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
by Phillip Hoose
List Price: $19.99Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Aug 05, 2014)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 160 pages
Target Age Group: Young Adult
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Finalist - Poetry
Speak Low: Poems
by Carl Phillips
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Mar 31, 2009)
Poetry, Hardcover, 80 pages
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Finalist - Poetry
Open Interval (Pitt Poetry Series)
by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
University of Pittsburgh Press (Apr 28, 2009)
Poetry, Paperback, 72 pages
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Finalist - Young People’s Literature
Jumped
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Quill Tree Books (May 25, 2021)
Fiction, Paperback, 100 pages
Target Age Group: Young Adult
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