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
10 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 2017
Winner - Fiction
Sing, Unburied, Sing
by Jesmyn Ward
- NYT Best Book of the 21st Century
- 6 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 3 Book Clubs’s Reading Lists
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2017
- 2018 BCALA Literary Award
- A New York Times Notable Book for 2017
Scribner Book Company (Sep 07, 2017)
Fiction, Hardcover, 304 pages
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Read Our Review of Sing, Unburied, Sing
Finalist - Nonfiction
Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge
by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
List Price: $26.00Atria / 37 Ink (Feb 07, 2017)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 272 pages
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Finalist - Poetry
In the Language of My Captor
by Shane McCrae
List Price: $24.95Wesleyan University Press (Feb 07, 2017)
Poetry, Hardcover, 108 pages
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Finalist - Poetry
Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems
by Danez Smith
List Price: $16.00Graywolf Press (Sep 05, 2017)
Poetry, Paperback, 96 pages
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Finalist - Young People’s Literature
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
by Rita Williams-Garcia, Illustrated by Frank Morrison
- A Top 150 Children’s Book
- 6 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 3 Book Clubs’s Reading Lists
Amistad (May 09, 2017)
Fiction, Hardcover, 176 pages
Target Age Group: Middle Grade
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Finalist - Young People’s Literature
American Street
by Ibi Zoboi
List Price: $17.99Balzer + Bray (Feb 14, 2017)
Fiction, Hardcover, 336 pages
Target Age Group: Young Adult
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Longlist - Fiction
A Kind of Freedom: A Novel
by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
- 6 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 3 Book Clubs’s Reading Lists
- 2018 BCALA Literary Award
- A New York Times Notable Book for 2017
Counterpoint (Aug 15, 2017)
Fiction, Hardcover, 256 pages
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Longlist - Nonfiction
Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News
by Kevin Young
- 6 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 3 Book Clubs’s Reading Lists
- A New York Times Notable Book for 2017
Graywolf Press (Nov 14, 2017)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 480 pages
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Longlist - Young People’s Literature
The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
19-time National Bestseller, Young Adult
- A 2024 National Bestselling Book – Young Adult
- A 2023 National Bestselling Book - Young Adult
- 6 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 3 Book Clubs’s Reading Lists
- Coretta Scott King Award Winning Book 2018
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2017
Balzer + Bray (Feb 28, 2017)
Fiction, Hardcover, 464 pages
Target Age Group: Young Adult
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Longlist - Young People’s Literature
Long Way Down
by Jason Reynolds
2-time National Bestseller, Young Adult
- 6 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 3 Book Clubs’s Reading Lists
- Coretta Scott King Award Winning Book 2018
- Newbery Medal Winner or Honor 2018
Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books (Oct 17, 2017)
Fiction, Hardcover, 240 pages
Target Age Group: Young Adult
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