Books Honored by the National Book Foundation
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: 2017 – 2016 – 2015 – 2014 – 2013
17 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 2021
Winner - Fiction
Hell of a Book
by Jason Mott
Publication Date: Aug 10, 2021
List Price: $27.00
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780593330968
Imprint: Dutton
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Winner - Nonfiction
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
by Tiya Miles
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2021
Publication Date: Jun 08, 2021
List Price: $28.00
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781984854995
Imprint: Random House
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Winner - Poetry
Playlist for the Apocalypse: Poems
by Rita Dove
Publication Date: Mar 28, 2023
List Price: $15.95
Format: Paperback, 128 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9781324050438
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Parent Company: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
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Finalist - Fiction
The Prophets
by Robert Jones, Jr.
Publication Date: Jan 05, 2021
List Price: $27.00
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780593085684
Imprint: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Finalist - Nonfiction
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance
by Hanif Abdurraqib
Publication Date: Mar 30, 2021
List Price: $27.00
Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781984801197
Imprint: Random House
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Finalist - Poetry
What Noise Against the Cane
by Desiree C. Bailey
Publication Date: Apr 13, 2021
List Price: $20.00
Format: Paperback, 96 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780300256536
Imprint: Yale University Press
Publisher: Yale University Press
Parent Company: Yale University
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Finalist - Poetry
Sho
by Douglas Kearney
Publication Date: Apr 06, 2021
List Price: $18.00
Format: Paperback, 104 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9781950268153
Imprint: Wave Books
Publisher: Wave Books
Parent Company: Wave Books
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Finalist - Young People’s Literature
Me (Moth)
by Amber McBride
Publication Date: Aug 17, 2021
List Price: $18.99
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
Classification: Fiction
Target Age Group: Young Adult
ISBN13: 9781250780362
Imprint: Feiwel & Friends
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
Parent Company: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
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Finalist - Young People’s Literature
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People
by Kekla Magoon
Publication Date: Nov 23, 2021
List Price: $24.99
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
Target Age Group: Young Adult
ISBN13: 9781536214185
Imprint: Candlewick Press
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Parent Company: Candlewick Press
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Longlist - Fiction
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Publication Date: Aug 24, 2021
List Price: $28.99
Format: Hardcover, 816 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780062942937
Imprint: Harper
Publisher: HarperCollins
Parent Company: News Corp
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Longlist - Nonfiction
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
by Clint Smith
Publication Date: Jun 01, 2021
List Price: $29.00
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780316492935
Imprint: Little, Brown and Company
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Parent Company: Lagardère Group
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Longlist - Nonfiction
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
by Heather McGhee
Publication Date: Feb 16, 2021
List Price: $28.00
Format: Hardcover, 448 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780525509561
Imprint: One World
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Longlist - Nonfiction
The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice
by Scott Ellsworth
Publication Date: May 18, 2021
List Price: $28.00
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780593182987
Imprint: Dutton
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Longlist - Nonfiction
The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship
by Deborah Willis
Publication Date: Jan 26, 2021
List Price: $39.00
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781479809004
Imprint: New York University Press
Publisher: New York University Press
Parent Company: New York University
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Longlist - Translated Literature
Waiting for the Waters to Rise
by Maryse Conde
Publication Date: Aug 05, 2021
List Price: $16.99
Format: Paperback, 368 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9781642860733
Imprint: World Editions
Publisher: World Editions
Parent Company: World Editions
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Longlist - Young People’s Literature
Home Is Not a Country
by Safia Elhillo
Publication Date: Mar 02, 2021
List Price: $17.99
Format: Hardcover, 224 pages
Classification: Fiction
Target Age Group: Young Adult
ISBN13: 9780593177051
Imprint: Make Me a World
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Longlist - Young People’s Literature
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
by Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrated by Floyd Cooper
- 4 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Coretta Scott King Award Winning Book 2022
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2021
Publication Date: Feb 02, 2021
List Price: $17.99
Format: Hardcover, 32 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
Target Age Group: Picture Book
ISBN13: 9781541581203
Imprint: Carolrhoda Books
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Parent Company: Lerner Publishing Group