National Book Award: Winners, Finalists and Longlisted Titles

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 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:  2024202320172016201520142013


10 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 2022

Winner - Nonfiction

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
by Imani Perry

List Price: $32.99
Ecco (Jan 25, 2022)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 432 pages
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Winner - Poetry

Finalist - Fiction

Finalist - Nonfiction

Finalist - Poetry

Finalist - Poetry

Finalist - Young People’s Literature

Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice
by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile, Illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile

List Price: $22.95
Norton Young Readers (Sep 27, 2022)
Fiction, Hardcover, 208 pages
Target Age Group: Middle Grade
More Info

Longlist - Poetry

Longlist - Young People’s Literature

Longlist - Young People’s Literature

Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution
by Sherri Winston

    List Price: $16.99
    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Sep 06, 2022)
    Fiction, Hardcover, 304 pages
    Target Age Group: Middle Grade
    More Info