National Book Award winners

Original list ↗︎

• The Underground Railroad — Colson Whitehead (2016) · Fiction · winner · Source
• Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America — Ibram X. Kendi (2016) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• The Performance of Becoming Human — Daniel Borzutzky (2016) · Poetry · winner · Source
• March: Book Three — John Lewis and Andrew Aydin (2016) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• Sing, Unburied, Sing — Jesmyn Ward (2017) · Fiction · winner · Source
• The Future Is History How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia — Masha Gessen (2017) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 — Frank Bidart (2017) · Poetry · winner · Source
• Far from the Tree — Robin Benway (2017) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• Indecency — Justin Phillip Reed (2018) · Poetry · winner · Source
• The Friend — Sigrid Nunez (2018) · Fiction · winner · Source
• The Emissary — Yoko Tawada (2018) · Translated Literature · winner · Source
• Trust Exercise — Susan Choi (2019) · Fiction · winner · Source
• The Dead Are Arising The Life of Malcolm X — Les Payne and Tamara Payne (2020) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• The Poet X — Elizabeth Acevedo (2018) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• Tokyo Ueno Station — Yu Miri (2020) · Translated Literature · winner · Source
• King and the Dragonflies — Kacen Callender (2020) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• 1919 The Year That Changed America — Martin W. Sandler (2019) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke — Jeffrey C. Stewart (2018) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming — László Krasznahorkai (2019) · Translated Literature · winner · Source
• Interior Chinatown — Charles Yu (2020) · Fiction · winner · Source
• Sight Lines — Arthur Sze (2019) · Poetry · winner · Source
• The Yellow House — Sarah M. Broom (2019) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• DMZ Colony — Don Mee Choi (2020) · Poetry · winner · Source
• Winter in Sokcho — Elisa Shua Dusapin (2021) · Translated Literature · winner · Source
• We Are Green and Trembling — Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (2025) · Translated Literature · winner · Source
• Hell of a Book — Jason Mott (2021) · Fiction · winner · Source
• from unincorporated territory [åmot] — Craig Santos Perez (2023) · Poetry · winner · Source
• All My Rage — Sabaa Tahir (2022) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• Floaters — Martín Espada (2021) · Poetry · winner · Source
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club — Malinda Lo (2021) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• Blackouts — Justin Torres (2023) · Fiction · winner · Source
• Kareem Between — Shifa Saltagi Safadi (2024) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• The Rediscovery of America Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History — Ned Blackhawk (2023) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This — Omar El Akkad (2025) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story — Daniel Nayeri (2025) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• James — Percival Everett (2024) · Fiction · winner · Source
• Taiwan Travelogue — Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (2024) · Translated Literature · winner · Source
• All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake — Tiya Miles (2021) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• The Rabbit Hutch — Tess Gunty (2022) · Fiction · winner · Source
• South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation — Imani Perry (2022) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• Soldiers and Kings Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling — Jason De León (2024) · Nonfiction · winner · Source
• Something About Living — Lena Khalaf Tuffaha (2024) · Poetry · winner · Source
• Seven Empty Houses — Samanta Schweblin (2022) · Translated Literature · winner · Source
• A First Time for Everything — Dan Santat (2023) · Young People's Literature · winner · Source
• The Words That Remain — Stênio Gardel (2023) · Translated Literature · winner · Source
• Punks: New & Selected Poems — John Keene (2022) · Poetry · winner · Source
• The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems — Patricia Smith (2025) · Poetry · winner · Source
• The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) — Rabih Alameddine (2025) · Fiction · winner · Source