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National Book Awards

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This award was established in 1950 to honor American books of the highest literary achievement. It is currently awarded annually in two categories: fiction and non fiction. Separate judging panels determine the winners in each category. Winning authors receive $10,000. In 1980, the name was changed to The American Book Award. After increasing controversy over categories, selections and judging, the original name was reverted to in 1987 and in 1989 the National Book Foundation was created to administer the awards. (Awards are given at the end of the year for that year’s publications.) Saul Bellow’s three awards are the most for any one author. John Cheever, William Faulkner, William Gaddis, Bernard Malamud, Wright Morris, Philip Roth and John Updike have each won twice.

FICTION

2022 – Tess Gunty – The Rabbit Hutch
2021
– Jason Mott – Hell of a Book
2020 – Yu Miri – Tokyo Ueno Station
2019 – Susan Choi – Trust Exercise
2018 – Sigrid Nunez – The Friend
2017 – Jesmyn Ward – Sing Unburied Sing
2016 – Colson Whitehead – The Underground Railroad
2015 – Adam Johnson – Fortune Smiles: Stories
2014 – Phil Klay – Redeployment
2013 – James McBride – The Good Lord Bird
2012 – Louise Erdrich – The Round House
2011 – Jesmyn Ward – Salvage the Bones
2010 – Jaime Gordon – Lord of Misrule
2009 – Peter Matthiessen – Let the Great World Spin
2008 – Peter Matthiessen – Shadow Country
2007 – Dennis Johnson – Tree of Smoke
2006 – Richard Powers – The Echo Maker
2005 – William T. Vollmann – Europe Central
2004 – Lily Tuck – The News From Paraguay
2003 – Shirley Hazzard – The Great Fire
2002 – Julia Glass – Three Junes
2001 – Jonathan Franzen – The Corrections
2000 – Susan Sontag – In America
1999 – Ha Jin – Waiting
1998 – Alice McDermott – Charming Billy
1997 – Charles Frazier – Cold Mountain
1996 – Andrea Barrett – Ship Fever and Other Stories
1995 – Philip Roth – Sabbath’s Theater
1994 – William Gaddis – A Frolic of His Own
1993 – E. Annie Proulx – The Shipping News
1992 – Cormac McCarthy – All the Pretty Horses
1991 – Norman Rush – Mating
1990 – Charles Johnson – Middle Passage
1989 – John Casey – Spartina
1988 – Pete Dexter – Paris Trout
1987 – Larry Heinemann – Paco’s Story
1986 – E.L. Doctorow – World’s Fair
1985 – Don Delillo – White Noise
1985 – Bob Shacochis – Easy in the Islands: Stories * (First Novel)
1984 – Ellen Gilchrist – Victory Over Japan
1984 – Harriet Doerr – Stones for Ibarra * (First Novel)
1983 – Alice Walker – The Color Purple
1983 – Gloria Naylor – The Women of Brewster Place * (First Novel)
1983 – Eudora Welty – The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty ** (Paperback)
1982 – John Updike – Rabbit is Rich
1982 – Robb Forman Dew – Dale Loves Sophie to Death * (First Novel)
1982 – William Maxwell – So Long, See You Tomorrow ** (Paperback)
1981 – Wright Morris – Plains Song for Female Voices
1981 – Ann Arensberg – Sister Wolf * (First Novel)
1981 – John Cheever – The Stories of John Cheever ** (Paperback)
1980 – William Styron – Sophie’s Choice
1980 – William Wharton – Birdy * (First Novel)
1980 – John Irving – The World According to Garp ** (Paperback)
1979 – Tim O’Brien – Going After Cacciato
1978 – Mary Lee Settle – Blood Tie
1977 – Wallace Stegner – The Spectator Bird
1976 – William Gaddis – J R
1975 – Robert Stone – Dog Soldiers *** (Tie)
1975 – Thomas Williams – The Hair of Harold Roux *** (Tie)
1974 – Thomas Pynchon – Gravity’s Rainbow *** (Tie)
1974 – Isaac Bashevis Singer – A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories *** (Tie)
1973 – John Barth – Chimera *** (Tie)
1973 – John Edward Williams – Augustus *** (Tie)
1972 – Flannery O’Connor – The Complete Stories (awarded posthumously)
1971 – Saul Bellow – Mr. Sammler’s Planet
1970 – Joyce Carol Oates – Them
1969 – Jerzy Kosinski – Steps
1968 – Thornton Wilder – The Eighth Day
1967 – Bernard Malamud – The Fixer
1966 – Katherine Anne Porter – The Collected Stories
1965 – Saul Bellow – Herzog
1964 – John Updike – The Centaur
1963 – J.F. Powers – Morte D’Urban
1962 – Walker Percy – The Moviegoer
1961 – Conrad Richter – The Waters of Kronos
1960 – Philip Roth – Goodbye, Columbus
1959 – Bernard Malamud – The Magic Barrel
1958 – John Cheever – The Wapshot Chronicle
1957 – Wright Morris – Field of Vision
1956 – John O’Hara – Ten North Frederick
1955 – William Faulkner – A Fable
1954 – Saul Bellow – The Adventures of Augie March
1953 – Ralph Ellison – Invisible Man
1952 – James Jones – From Here to Eternity
1951 – William Faulkner – The Collected Stories of William Faulkner
1950 – Nelson Algren – The Man With the Golden Arm

* From 1980-85, awards were also given for best first novel by an author
** From 1980-83, separate awards were given for fiction in paperback form
*** In 1973, 1974 and 1975 two books tied for the award each year

Last Updated December 2022 sdc