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 2011
Winner - Fiction
Salvage the Bones
by Jesmyn Ward
1-time National Bestseller, Adult Fiction (Paperback)
- A 2024 National Bestselling Book – Adult Fiction (Paperback)
- A 2023 National Bestselling Book - Adult Fiction (Paperback)
- NYT Best Book of the 21st Century
- 7 Time Power List Bestselling Book
- A New York Times Notable Book for 2012
Bloomsbury USA (Apr 24, 2012)
Fiction, Paperback, 288 pages
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Winner - Poetry
Head Off & Split: Poems
by Nikky Finney
List Price: $16.95TriQuarterly Books (Jan 27, 2011)
Poetry, Paperback, 116 pages
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Finalist - Nonfiction
Malcolm X: A Life Of Reinvention
by Manning Marable
List Price: $30.00Knopf (Apr 04, 2011)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 608 pages
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Read Our Review of Malcolm X: A Life Of Reinvention
Finalist - Poetry
The Chameleon Couch: Poems
by Yusef Komunyakaa
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Mar 15, 2011)
Poetry, Hardcover, 128 pages
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