National Book Award for Fiction

National Book Award for Fiction
Awarded for	Outstanding literary work by U.S. citizens.
Location	New York City
First awarded	1936
Website	National Book Foundation

The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but they are awards "by writers to writers".^[1] The panelists are five "writers who are known to be doing great work in their genre or field".^[2]

General fiction was one of four categories when the awards were re-established in 1950. For several years beginning 1980, prior to the Foundation, there were multiple fiction categories: hardcover, paperback, first novel or first work of fiction; from 1981 to 1983 hardcover and paperback children's fiction; and only in 1980 five awards to mystery fiction, science fiction, and western fiction.^[3] When the Foundation celebrated the 60th postwar awards in 2009, all but three of the 77 previous winners in fiction categories were in print.^[4] The 77 included all eight 1980 winners but excluded the 1981 to 1983 children's fiction winners.^[5]

The award recognizes one book written by a U.S. citizen and published in the U.S. from December 1 to November 30. The National Book Foundation accepts nominations from publishers until June 15, requires mailing nominated books to the panelists by August 1, and announces five finalists in October. The winner is announced on the day of the final ceremony in November. The award is $10,000 and a bronze sculpture; other finalists get $1000, a medal, and a citation written by the panel.^[6]

Authors who have won the award more than once include such noted figures as William Faulkner, John Updike, William Gaddis, Jesmyn Ward, and Philip Roth, each having won the award on two occasions along with numerous other nominations. Saul Bellow won the award in three decades (1954, 1965, 1971) and is the only author to have won the National Book Award for Fiction three times.

National Book Awards for Fiction[]

From 1935 to 1941 there were six annual awards for general fiction and the "Bookseller Discovery" or "Most Original Book" was sometimes a novel. From 1980 to 1985 there were six annual awards to first novels or first works of fiction. In 1980 there were five awards to mystery, western, or science fiction. There have been many awards to fiction in the Children's or Young People's categories.^[3]

Finalists, general fiction[]

This list covers only the post-war awards (pre-war awards follow) to general fiction for adult readers: one annual winner from 1950 except two undifferentiated winners 1973 to 1975, dual hardcover and paperback winners 1980 to 1983.

For each award, the winner is listed first followed by the finalists. Unless otherwise noted, the year represents the year the award was given for books published in the prior year. Thus, the award year 1950 is for books published in 1949.

1950 to 1959[]

1950: Nelson Algren — The Man with the Golden Arm^[7]

No runners up were recognized. There were five honorable mentions in the non-fiction category only.^[8][9]

1951: William Faulkner — Collected Stories of William Faulkner^[10]

No runners up were recognized.^[11]

1952: James Jones — From Here to Eternity^[12]

• James Agee — The Morning Watch
• Truman Capote — The Grass Harp
• William Faulkner — Requiem for a Nun
• Caroline Gordon — The Strange Children
• Thomas Mann — The Holy Sinner
• John P. Marquand — Melville Goodwin USA
• J. D. Salinger — The Catcher in the Rye
• William Styron — Lie Down in Darkness
• Jessamyn West — The Witch Diggers
• Herman Wouk — The Caine Mutiny

1953: Ralph Ellison — Invisible Man^[13]

• Isabel Bolton —
• H. L. Davis —
• —
• Ernest Hemingway — The Old Man and the Sea
• —
• —
• May Sarton —
• Jean Stafford —
• John Steinbeck — East of Eden
• William Carlos Williams —

1954: Saul Bellow — The Adventures of Augie March^[14]

No runners up were recognized.^[15]

1955: William Faulkner — A Fable^[16]

• Harriette Arnow — The Dollmaker
• Hamilton Basso — The View from Pompey's Head
• Davis Grubb — The Night of the Hunter
• Randall Jarrell — Pictures from an Institution
• Milton Lott — The Last Hunt
• Frederick Manfred — Lord Grizzly
• William March — The Bad Seed
• Wright Morris —
• —
• John Steinbeck — Sweet Thursday

1956: John O'Hara — Ten North Frederick^[17]

• Paul Bowles — The Spider's House
• Shirley Ann Grau —
• MacKinlay Kantor — Andersonville
• Flannery O'Connor — A Good Man is Hard to Find
• May Sarton —
• Robert Penn Warren — Band of Angels
• Eudora Welty —
• Herman Wouk — Marjorie Morningstar

1957: Wright Morris — The Field of Vision^[18]

• Nelson Algren — A Walk on the Wild Side
• James Baldwin — Giovanni's Room
• Saul Bellow — Seize the Day
• B. J. Chute —
• A. B. Guthrie — These Thousand Hills
• John Hersey —
• —
• Edwin O'Connor — The Last Hurrah
• J. F. Powers —
• Elizabeth Spencer —
• James Thurber —

1958: John Cheever — The Wapshot Chronicle^[19]

• James Agee — A Death in the Family
• James Gould Cozzens — By Love Possessed
• Mark Harris —
• Andrew Lytle — The Velvet Horn
• Bernard Malamud — The Assistant
• Wright Morris —
• Vladimir Nabokov — Pnin
• Ayn Rand — Atlas Shrugged
• Nancy Wilson Ross —
• May Sarton —

1959: Bernard Malamud — The Magic Barrel^[20]

• J. P. Donleavy — The Ginger Man
• William Humphrey — Home from the Hill
• Vladimir Nabokov — Lolita
• John O'Hara —
• J. R. Salamanca —
• Anya Seton — The Winthrop Woman
• Robert Traver — Anatomy of a Murder

1960 to 1969[]

1960: Philip Roth — Goodbye, Columbus^[21][22]

• Louis Auchincloss —
• Hamilton Basso —
• Saul Bellow — Henderson the Rain King
• Evan S. Connell, Jr. — Mrs. Bridge
• William Faulkner — The Mansion
• Mark Harris —
• John Hersey —
• H. L. Humes —
• Shirley Jackson — The Haunting of Hill House
• Elizabeth Janeway — The Third Choice
• James Jones —
• Warren Miller — The Cool World
• James Purdy —
• Leo Rosten — The Return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N (2nd of two short story collections; see 1937)
• John Updike — The Poorhouse Fair
• Robert Penn Warren —
• Morris West — The Devil's Advocate

1961: Conrad Richter — The Waters of Kronos^[23]

• Louis Auchincloss —
• Kay Boyle —
• John Hersey — The Child Buyer
• John Knowles — A Separate Peace
• Harper Lee — To Kill a Mockingbird
• Wright Morris —
• Flannery O'Connor — The Violent Bear It Away
• Elizabeth Spencer —
• Francis Steegmuller —
• John Updike — Rabbit, Run
• Mildred Walker —

1962: Walker Percy — The Moviegoer^[24]

• Hortense Calisher —
• George P. Elliott —
• Joseph Heller — Catch-22
• Bernard Malamud — A New Life
• William Maxwell —
• J. D. Salinger — Franny and Zooey
• Isaac Bashevis Singer —
• Edward Lewis Wallant — The Pawnbroker
• Joan Williams —
• Richard Yates — Revolutionary Road

1963: J. F. Powers — Morte d'Urban^[25]

• Vladimir Nabokov — Pale Fire
• Katherine Anne Porter — Ship of Fools
• Dawn Powell —
• Clancy Sigal — Going Away
• John Updike — Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories

1964: John Updike — The Centaur^[26]

• Bernard Malamud —
• Mary McCarthy — The Group
• Thomas Pynchon — V.
• Harvey Swados —

1965: Saul Bellow — Herzog^[27]

• Louis Auchincloss —
• John Hawkes — Second Skin
• Richard E. Kim — The Martyred
• Wallace Markfield —
• Vladimir Nabokov — The Defense
• Isaac Bashevis Singer —

1966: Katherine Anne Porter — The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter^[28]

• Jesse Hill Ford —
• Peter Matthiessen — At Play in the Fields of the Lord
• James Merrill —
• Flannery O'Connor — Everything That Rises Must Converge
• Harry Mark Petrakis —

1967: Bernard Malamud — The Fixer^[29]

• Louis Auchincloss —
• Edwin O'Connor —
• Walker Percy — The Last Gentleman
• Harry Mark Petrakis —
• Wilfrid Sheed —

1968: Thornton Wilder — The Eighth Day^[30]

• Norman Mailer — Why Are We in Vietnam?
• Joyce Carol Oates — A Garden of Earthly Delights
• Chaim Potok — The Chosen
• William Styron — Confessions of Nat Turner

1969: Jerzy Kosiński — Steps^[31]

• John Barth — Lost in the Funhouse
• Frederick Exley — A Fan's Notes
• Joyce Carol Oates —
• Thomas Rogers —

1970 to 1979[]

1970: Joyce Carol Oates — them^[32]

• Leonard Gardner — Fat City
• Leonard Michaels —
• Jean Stafford — The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford
• Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. — Slaughterhouse Five or The Children's Crusade

1971: Saul Bellow — Mr. Sammler's Planet^[33]

• James Dickey — Deliverance
• Shirley Hazzard — The Bay of Noon
• John Updike — Bech: A Book
• Eudora Welty — Losing Battles

1972: Flannery O'Connor — The Complete Stories^[34]

The Complete Stories was named the "Best of the National Book Awards"^[35] as part of the Fiction Award's 60th anniversary celebration in 2009, by internet visitors voting on a ballot of the best six award winners selected by writers associated with the Foundation.^[4]

• Frederick Buechner — Lion Country
• E. L. Doctorow — The Book of Daniel
• Stanley Elkin —
• Tom McHale —
• Joyce Carol Oates — Wonderland
• Cynthia Ozick — The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories
• Walker Percy — Love in the Ruins
• Earl Thompson —
• John Updike — Rabbit Redux

1973: John Barth — Chimera^{[36][37][38][a]}

1973: John Edward Williams — Augustus^{[39][38][37][a]}

• Brock Brower —
• Alan H. Friedman — Hermaphrodeity
• Barry Hannah —
• George V. Higgins — The Friends of Eddie Coyle
• R. M. Koster —
• Vladimir Nabokov — Transparent Things
• Ishmael Reed — Mumbo Jumbo
• Thomas Rogers —
• Isaac Bashevis Singer — Enemies, A Love Story
• Eudora Welty — The Optimist's Daughter

1974: Thomas Pynchon — Gravity's Rainbow^[40][41][a]

1974: Isaac Bashevis Singer — A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories^{[41][42][43][44][a]}

• Doris Betts — Beasts of the Southern Wild and Other Stories
• John Cheever —
• Ellen Douglas —
• Stanley Elkin —
• John Gardner —
• John Leonard —
• Thomas McGuane —
• Wilfrid Sheed —
• Gore Vidal — Burr
• Joy Williams —

1975: Robert Stone — Dog Soldiers^[45][46][a]

1975: Thomas Williams — The Hair of Harold Roux^{[46][47][48][a]}

• Donald Barthelme —
• Gail Godwin —
• Joseph Heller — Something Happened
• Toni Morrison — Sula
• Vladimir Nabokov — Look at the Harlequins!
• Grace Paley — Enormous Changes at the Last Minute
• Philip Roth — My Life As a Man
• Mark Smith —

1976: William Gaddis — J R^[49]

• Saul Bellow — Humboldt's Gift
• Hortense Calisher —
• —
• Vladimir Nabokov — Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories
• Larry Woiwode —

1977: Wallace Stegner — The Spectator Bird^[50]

• Raymond Carver — Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
• MacDonald Harris — The Balloonist
• Ursula K. Le Guin — Orsinian Tales
• Cynthia Propper Seton —

1978: Mary Lee Settle — Blood Tie^[51]

• Robert Coover — The Public Burning
• Peter De Vries —
• James Alan McPherson — Elbow Room
• John Sayles —

1979: Tim O'Brien — Going After Cacciato^[52]

• John Cheever — The Stories of John Cheever
• John Irving — The World According to Garp
• Diane Johnson —
• David Plante —

1980 to 1989[]

For 1980 to 1983 this list covers the paired "Fiction (hardcover)" and "Fiction (paperback)" awards in that order. Hard and paper editions were distinguished only in these four years; none of the paperback winners were original; in their first editions all had been losing finalists in 1979 or 1981.

From 1980 to 1985 there was also one award for first novel or first work of fiction and in 1980 there were five more awards for mystery, western, and science fiction.^[3] None of those are covered here.

1980 hardcover: William Styron — Sophie's Choice ^[53][54]

• James Baldwin — Just Above My Head
• Norman Mailer — The Executioner's Song
• Philip Roth — The Ghost Writer
• Scott Spencer —

1980 paperback: John Irving — The World According to Garp^[55][54]

• Paul Bowles —
• Gail Godwin —
• John Updike — Too Far to Go
• Marguerite Young — Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, Volumes 1 and 2

1981 hardcover: Wright Morris — Plains Song: For Female Voices ^[56][57]

• Shirley Hazzard — The Transit of Venus
• William Maxwell — So Long, See You Tomorrow
• Walker Percy — The Second Coming
• Eudora Welty — The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty

1981 paperback: John Cheever — The Stories of John Cheever^[58][57]

• Thomas Flanagan —
• Norman Mailer — The Executioner's Song
• Scott Spencer —
• Herman Wouk — War and Remembrance

1982 hardcover: John Updike — Rabbit is Rich^[59][60]

• Mark Helprin —
• John Irving — The Hotel New Hampshire
• Robert Stone —
• William Wharton — Dad

1982 paperback: William Maxwell — So Long, See You Tomorrow^[61][60]

• E. L. Doctorow — Loon Lake
• Shirley Hazzard — The Transit of Venus
• Walker Percy — The Second Coming
• Anne Tyler — Morgan's Passing

1983 hardcover: Alice Walker — The Color Purple^[62][63]

• Gail Godwin —
• Bobbie Ann Mason — Shiloh and Other Stories
• Paul Theroux — The Mosquito Coast
• Anne Tyler — Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

1983 paperback: Eudora Welty — The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty^[64][63]

• David Bradley — The Chaneysville Incident
• Mary Gordon — The Company of Women
• Marilynne Robinson — Housekeeping
• Robert Stone —

1983 entries were published during 1982; winners in 27 categories were announced April 13 and privately celebrated April 28, 1983.^[65]

1984 entries for the "revamped" awards in three categories were published November 1983 to October 1984; eleven finalists were announced October 17.^[66] Winners were announced and celebrated November 15, 1984.^[67]

1984: Ellen Gilchrist — ^[68]

• Alison Lurie — Foreign Affairs
• Philip Roth — The Anatomy Lesson

1985: Don DeLillo — White Noise^[69]

• Ursula K. Le Guin — Always Coming Home
• Hugh Nissenson —

1986: E. L. Doctorow — World's Fair^[70]

• Norman Rush —
• Peter Taylor — A Summons to Memphis

1987: Larry Heinemann — Paco's Story^[71]

• Alice McDermott — That Night
• Toni Morrison — Beloved
• Howard Norman —
• Philip Roth — The Counterlife

1988: Pete Dexter — Paris Trout^[72]

• Don DeLillo — Libra
• Mary McGarry Morris —
• J. F. Powers — Wheat That Springeth Green
• Anne Tyler — Breathing Lessons

1989: John Casey — Spartina^[73]

• E. L. Doctorow — Billy Bathgate
• Katherine Dunn — Geek Love
• Oscar Hijuelos — Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
• Amy Tan — The Joy Luck Club

1990 to 1999[]

1990: Charles Johnson — Middle Passage^[74]

• Felipe Alfau — Chromos
• Elena Castedo —
• Jessica Hagedorn — Dogeaters
• Joyce Carol Oates — Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart

1991: Norman Rush — Mating^[75]

• Louis Begley — Wartime Lies
• Stephen Dixon — Frog
• Stanley Elkin —
• Sandra Scofield —

1992: Cormac McCarthy — All the Pretty Horses^[76]

• Dorothy Allison — Bastard Out of Carolina
• Cristina García — Dreaming in Cuban
• Edward P. Jones — Lost in the City
• Robert Stone — Outerbridge Reach

1993: E. Annie Proulx — The Shipping News^[77]

• Amy Bloom —
• Thom Jones —
• Richard Powers — Operation Wandering Soul
• Bob Shacochis —

1994: William Gaddis — A Frolic of His Own^[78]

• Ellen Currie —
• Richard Dooling —
• Howard Norman —
• Grace Paley — The Collected Stories

1995: Philip Roth — Sabbath's Theater^[79]

• Madison Smartt Bell —
• Edwidge Danticat — Krik? Krak!
• Stephen Dixon —
• Rosario Ferré —

1996: Andrea Barrett — ^[80]

• Ron Hansen — Atticus
• Elizabeth McCracken — The Giant's House
• Steven Millhauser — Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
• Janet Peery — The River Beyond the World

1997: Charles Frazier — Cold Mountain^[81]

• Don DeLillo — Underworld
• Diane Johnson — Le Divorce
• Ward Just —
• Cynthia Ozick — The Puttermesser Papers

1998: Alice McDermott — Charming Billy^[82]

• Allegra Goodman — Kaaterskill Falls
• Gayl Jones —
• Robert Stone —
• Tom Wolfe — A Man in Full

1999: Ha Jin — Waiting^[83]

• Andre Dubus III — House of Sand and Fog
• Kent Haruf — Plainsong
• —
• Jean Thompson —

2000 to 2009[]

2000: Susan Sontag — In America^[84]

• Charles Baxter —
• Alan Lightman —
• Joyce Carol Oates — Blonde
• Francine Prose — Blue Angel

2001: Jonathan Franzen — The Corrections^[85]

• Dan Chaon —
• Jennifer Egan —
• Louise Erdrich — The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
• Susan Straight —

2002: Julia Glass — Three Junes^[86]

• Mark Costello —
• Adam Haslett —
• Martha McPhee — Gorgeous Lies
• Brad Watson —

2003: Shirley Hazzard — The Great Fire^[87]

• T. C. Boyle — Drop City
• Edward P. Jones — The Known World
• Scott Spencer —
• Marianne Wiggins —

2004: Lily Tuck — The News from Paraguay^[88]

• Sarah Shun-lien Bynum —
• Christine Schutt —
• Joan Silber —
• Kate Walbert —

2005: William T. Vollmann — Europe Central^[89]

• E.L. Doctorow — The March
• Mary Gaitskill —
• Christopher Sorrentino —
• Rene Steinke —

2006: Richard Powers — The Echo Maker^[90]

• Mark Z. Danielewski — Only Revolutions
• Ken Kalfus —
• Dana Spiotta — Eat the Document
• Jess Walter —

2007: Denis Johnson — Tree of Smoke^[91]

• Mischa Berlinski — Fieldwork
• Lydia Davis — Varieties of Disturbance
• Joshua Ferris — Then We Came to the End
• Jim Shepard —

2008: Peter Matthiessen — Shadow Country^[92]

• Aleksandar Hemon — The Lazarus Project
• Rachel Kushner — Telex from Cuba
• Marilynne Robinson — Home
• Salvatore Scibona —

2009: Colum McCann — Let the Great World Spin^[93]

• Bonnie Jo Campbell —
• Daniyal Mueenuddin — In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
• Jayne Anne Phillips —
• Marcel Theroux —

2010 to 2019[]

2010: Jaimy Gordon — Lord of Misrule^[94]

• Peter Carey — Parrot and Olivier in America
• Nicole Krauss — Great House
• Lionel Shriver — So Much for That
• Karen Tei Yamashita — I Hotel

2011: Jesmyn Ward — Salvage the Bones^[95]

• Andrew Krivak — The Sojourn
• Téa Obreht — The Tiger's Wife
• Julie Otsuka — The Buddha in the Attic
• Edith Pearlman — Binocular Vision

2012: Louise Erdrich — The Round House^{[96][97][98][99]}

• Junot Díaz — This Is How You Lose Her
• Dave Eggers — A Hologram for the King
• Ben Fountain — Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
• Kevin Powers — The Yellow Birds

2013: James McBride — The Good Lord Bird^[100][101]

• Rachel Kushner — The Flamethrowers
• Jhumpa Lahiri — The Lowland
• Thomas Pynchon — Bleeding Edge
• George Saunders — Tenth of December: Stories

2014: Phil Klay — Redeployment^[102][103]

• Rabih Alameddine — An Unnecessary Woman
• Anthony Doerr — All the Light We Cannot See
• Emily St. John Mandel — Station Eleven
• Marilynne Robinson — Lila

2015: Adam Johnson — Fortune Smiles^[104]

• Karen Bender — Refund: Stories
• Lauren Groff — Fates and Furies
• Angela Flournoy — The Turner House
• Hanya Yanagihara — A Little Life

2016: Colson Whitehead — The Underground Railroad^[105]

• Chris Bachelder — The Throwback Special
• Paulette Jiles — News of the World
• Karan Mahajan — The Association of Small Bombs
• Jacqueline Woodson — Another Brooklyn

2017: Jesmyn Ward — Sing, Unburied, Sing^[106]

• Elliot Ackerman — Dark at the Crossing
• Lisa Ko — The Leavers
• Min Jin Lee — Pachinko
• Carmen Maria Machado — Her Body and Other Parties

2018: Sigrid Nunez, The Friend^[107][108]

• Jamel Brinkley — A Lucky Man
• Lauren Groff — Florida
• Brandon Hobson — Where the Dead Sit Talking
• Rebecca Makkai — The Great Believers

2019: Susan Choi, Trust Exercise^[109][110]

• Kali Fajardo-Anstine — Sabrina & Corina: Stories
• Marlon James — Black Leopard, Red Wolf
• Laila Lalami — The Other Americans
• Julia Phillips — Disappearing Earth

2020 to 2029[]

2020: Charles Yu — Interior Chinatown^[111]

• Rumaan Alam — Leave the World Behind
• Lydia Millet — A Children's Bible
• Deesha Philyaw — The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
• Douglas Stuart — Shuggie Bain

Early awards for fiction[]

The National Book Awards for 1935 to 1940 annually recognized the "Most Distinguished Novel" (1935-1936) or "Favorite Fiction" (1937-1940). Furthermore, works of fiction were eligible for the "Bookseller Discovery" and "Most Original Book" awards; fiction winners are listed here.

There was only one National Book Award for 1941, the Bookseller Discovery, which recognized the novel Hold Autumn In Your Hand by George Perry;^[112] then none until the 1950 revival in three categories including Fiction.

Most Distinguished Novel (1935-1936)[]

1935: Rachel Field, Time Out of Mind^[113]

1936: Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind^[114]

Favorite Fiction (1937-1940)[]

1937: A. J. Cronin, The Citadel^[115]

• Conrad Richter, The Sea of Grass^[b]
• Kenneth Roberts, Northwest Passage^[b]
• Leonard Q. Ross (Leo Rosten), The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N (short stories)^[b]

1938: Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca^[116]

1939: John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath^[117]

• Sholom Asch, The Nazarene

1940: Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley^[118]

Bookseller Discovery (1936 to 1941)[]

1936: Norah Lofts, I Met a Gypsy (short stories)^[114]

1937: Lawrence Watkin, On Borrowed Time (novel)^[116]

• see 1937 Fiction^[b]

1938: see nonfiction

1939: Elgin Groseclose, Ararat (novel)^[117]

• Chard Powers Smith, Artillery of Time, I

1940: see nonfiction

1941: George Sessions Perry, Hold Autumn in Your Hand (novel)^[112]

Most Original Book (1935 to 1939)[]

1935: Charles G. Finney, The Circus of Dr. Lao (novel)^[114]

1936: see nonfiction

1937: see nonfiction

• see 1937 Fiction^[b]

1938: see nonfiction

1939: Dalton Trumbo, Johnny Got His Gun (novel)^[117]

• Geoffrey Household, Rogue Male

Repeat winners[]

See Winners of multiple U.S. National Book Awards

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• The Contenders: 61 Years of National Book Award Fiction Finalists, special exhibit, June 2012. "Down Memory Lane With the National Book Awards (and Not Just the Winners), The New York Times, June 22, 2012.