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:  2024 – 2023 – 2017 – 2016 – 2015 – 2014 – 2013


13 Books Honored by the National Book Foundation in 2023

Finalist - Fiction

Click for a larger image of Chain Gang All Stars

Chain Gang All Stars
by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

List Price: $27.00
Pantheon Books (Apr 04, 2023)
Hardcover, 384 pages
Fiction

Finalist - Fiction

Click for a larger image of Temple Folk

Temple Folk
by Aaliyah Bilal

    List Price: $26.99
    Simon & Schuster (Jul 04, 2023)
    Hardcover, 256 pages
    Fiction

    Finalist - Nonfiction

    Click for a larger image of Ordinary Notes

    Ordinary Notes
    by Christina Sharpe

      List Price: $35.00
      Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Apr 25, 2023)
      Hardcover, 392 pages
      Nonfiction

      Finalist - Poetry

      Click for a larger image of Suddenly We

      Suddenly We
      by Evie Shockley

        List Price: $26.00
        Wesleyan University Press (Mar 07, 2023)
        Hardcover, 112 pages
        Poetry

        Finalist - Translated Literature

        Click for a larger image of Beyond the Door of No Return

        Beyond the Door of No Return
        by David Diop

          List Price: $27.00
          Farrar, Straus and Cudahy (Sep 19, 2023)
          Hardcover, 256 pages
          Fiction

          Finalist - Translated Literature

          Click for a larger image of On a Woman’s Madness

          On a Woman’s Madness
          by Astrid Roemer

            List Price: $18.00
            Two Lines Press (Nov 28, 2023)
            Paperback, 265 pages
            Fiction

            Finalist - Young People’s Literature

            Click for a larger image of Big

            Big
            by Vashti Harrison, Illustrated by Vashti Harrison

            List Price: $19.99
            Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (May 02, 2023)
            Hardcover, 60 pages
            Fiction
            Target Age Group: Picture Book

            Longlist - Fiction

            Click for a larger image of Holler, Child: Stories

            Holler, Child: Stories
            by LaToya Watkins

              List Price: $27.00
              Penguin Publishing Group (Aug 29, 2023)
              Hardcover, 224 pages
              Fiction

              Longlist - Nonfiction

              Click for a larger image of When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era

              When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era
              by Donovan X. Ramsey

              List Price: $30.00
              One World (Jul 11, 2023)
              Hardcover, 448 pages
              Nonfiction

              Longlist - Nonfiction

              Click for a larger image of I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction

              I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction
              by Kidada E. Williams

                List Price: $30.00
                Bloomsbury Publishing (Jan 17, 2023)
                Hardcover, 384 pages
                Nonfiction

                Longlist - Poetry

                Click for a larger image of Trace Evidence: Poems

                Trace Evidence: Poems
                by Charif Shanahan

                  List Price: $16.95
                  Tin House Books (Mar 21, 2023)
                  Paperback, 112 pages
                  Poetry

                  Longlist - Translated Literature

                  Click for a larger image of The Most Secret Memory of Men

                  The Most Secret Memory of Men
                  by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

                    List Price: $19.99
                    Other Press (NY) (Sep 26, 2023)
                    Paperback, 496 pages
                    Fiction

                    Longlist - Young People’s Literature

                    Click for a larger image of More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

                    More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
                    by Michael G. Long and Yohuru Williams

                      List Price: $21.99
                      Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Younger Readers (Aug 29, 2023)
                      Hardcover, 272 pages
                      Nonfiction
                      Target Age Group: Middle Grade