National Book Award: Winners, Finalists, and Longlisted Titles

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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 in 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.

15 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 2019

Winner – Nonfiction
The Yellow House: A Memoir

The Yellow House: A Memoir

by Sarah M. Broom