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
15 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 2019
Winner - Nonfiction
The Yellow House: A Memoir
by Sarah M. Broom
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- An NAACP Image Award Honored Book
Grove Press (Aug 13, 2019)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 304 pages
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Finalist - Fiction
Black Leopard, Red Wolf
by Marlon James
List Price: $30.00Riverhead Books (Feb 05, 2019)
Fiction, Hardcover, 640 pages
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Finalist - Fiction
The Other Americans
by Laila Lalami
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2019
Pantheon Books (Mar 26, 2019)
Fiction, Hardcover, 320 pages
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Finalist - Nonfiction
Solitary
by Albert Woodfox
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Hurston/Wright Honored Book (2020)
Grove Press (Dec 03, 2019)
Nonfiction, Paperback, 448 pages
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Finalist - Nonfiction
Thick: And Other Essays
by Tressie McMillan Cottom
List Price: $24.99The New Press (Jan 08, 2019)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 224 pages
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Finalist - Poetry
I: New and Selected Poems
by Toi Derricotte
List Price: $29.95University of Pittsburgh Press (Mar 26, 2019)
Poetry, Hardcover, 320 pages
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Finalist - Poetry
The Tradition
by Jericho Brown
1-time National Bestseller, Poetry
- A 2024 National Bestselling Book – Poetry
- A 2023 National Bestselling Book - Poetry
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- An NAACP Image Award Honored Book
Copper Canyon Press (Apr 02, 2019)
Poetry, Paperback, 110 pages
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Finalist - Translated Literature
The Barefoot Woman
by Scholastique Mukasonga
List Price: $16.00Archipelago (Dec 18, 2018)
Fiction, Paperback, 152 pages
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Finalist - Young People’s Literature
Pet
by Akwaeke Emezi
List Price: $17.99Make Me a World (Sep 10, 2019)
Fiction, Hardcover, 208 pages
Target Age Group: Young Adult
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Finalist - Young People’s Literature
Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks
by Jason Reynolds
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Coretta Scott King Award Winning Book 2020
Atheneum (Oct 08, 2019)
Fiction, Paperback, 208 pages
Target Age Group: Young Adult
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Longlist - Fiction
The Nickel Boys: A Novel
by Colson Whitehead
9-time National Bestseller, Adult Fiction (Hardcover)
- A 2024 National Bestselling Book – Adult Fiction (Hardcover)
- A 2023 National Bestselling Book - Adult Fiction (Hardcover)
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2019
- 2020 BCALA Literary Award
Doubleday (Jul 30, 2019)
Fiction, Hardcover, 208 pages
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Longlist - Nonfiction
Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership
by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
List Price: $30.00The University of North Carolina Press (Oct 21, 2019)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 368 pages
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Longlist - Nonfiction
Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest
by Hanif Abdurraqib
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2019
University of Texas Press (Feb 01, 2019)
Nonfiction, Paperback, 216 pages
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Longlist - Poetry
Build Yourself a Boat
by Camonghne Felix
List Price: $16.00Haymarket Books (Apr 23, 2019)
Poetry, Paperback, 72 pages
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Longlist - Young People’s Literature
The Undefeated
by Kwame Alexander, Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
5-time National Bestseller, Juvenile Nonfiction
- A 2024 National Bestselling Book – Juvenile Nonfiction
- A 2023 National Bestselling Book - Juvenile Nonfiction
- A Top 150 Children’s Book
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Coretta Scott King Award Winning Book 2020
- Carter G. Woodson Award Winning Book 2020
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2019
- Newbery Medal Winner or Honor 2020
- Caldecott Medal Winner or Honor 2020
Versify (Apr 02, 2019)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 40 pages
Target Age Group: Picture Book
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