National Book Award Nominees 2023

The National Book Awards were established in 1950 to celebrate the best writing in America. Since 1989, they have been overseen by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture. Although other categories have been recognized in the past, the Awards currently honor the best Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature published each year.

For more information on the National Book Awards: https://www.nationalbook.org/

The longlist of nominees were announced on September 13-15, the finalists were chosen on October 3, and the winners will be selected on November 15, 2023.

The nominees for this year’s National Book Awards in the TBP Collection:

Fiction

THIS OTHER EDEN by Paul Harding (DB 113243, BR 24845 IN PROCESS)
LOOT by Tania James (DB 115153 IN PROCESS)
CHAIN-GANG ALL STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (DB 114336)

Nonfiction

REDISCOVERY OF AMERICA: NATIVE PEOPLES AND THE UNMAKING OF U.S. HISTORY by Ned Blackhawk (DB 115217 IN PROCESS)
KING: A LIFE by Jonathan Eig (DB 115189)
LILIANA’S INVINCIBLE SUMMER: A SISTER’S SEARCH FOR JUSTICE by Cristina Rivera Garza (DB 115091)
ORDINARY NOTES by Christina Elizabeth Sharpe (DB 114934 IN PROCESS)
FIRE WEATHER: A TRUE STORY FROM A HOTTER WORLD by John Valliant (IN PROCESS)
I SAW DEATH COMING: A HISTORY OF TERROR AND SURVIVAL IN THE WAR AGAINST RECONSTRUCTION by Kidada E. Williams (DB 114200 IN PROCESS)

Translated Literature

THIS IS NOT MIAMI by Fernanda Melchor
Translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes (IN PROCESS)
ABYSS by Pilar Quintana
Translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman (DB 115593 IN PROCESS)

Poetry

HOW TO COMMUNICATE: POEMS by John Lee Clark (DB 113879 IN PROCESS, BR 24891 IN PROCESS)
PROMISES OF GOLD / PROMESAS DE ORO by José Olivarez (DB 114551 IN PROCESS)

Young People’s Literature

SIMON SORT OF SAYS by Erin Bow (DB 113782)
FORGET ME NOT by Alyson Derrick (DB 115486 IN PROCESS)

National Book Award Nominees 2022

The National Book Awards were established in 1950 to celebrate the best writing in America. Since 1989, they have been overseen by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture. Although other categories have been recognized in the past, the awards currently honor the best Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature published each year. For more information on the National Book Awards: https://www.nationalbook.org/

The finalists were chosen on October 4, and the winners will be selected on November 16, 2022.

The nominees for this year’s National Book Award in the TBP Collection:

Fiction

RABBIT HUTCH
Gunty, Tess
DB 109788 IN PRIOCESS

Nonfiction

INVISIBLE KINGDOM: REIMAGINING CHRONIC ILLNESS
O’Rourke, Meghan
DB 107431
SOUTH TO AMERICA
Perry, Imani
DB 106806; LB 13589
HIS NAME IS GEORGE FLOYD: ONE MAN’S LIFE AND THE STRUGGLE FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
Samuels, Robert
DBC 26540; LB 14083
LOST & FOUND: A MEMOIR
Schulz, Kathryn
LB 13617

Translated Literature

SEASONS OF PURGATORY
Mandanipour, Shahriar
Translated from the Persian by Sara Khalili
DB 109146 IN PROCESS
WHERE YOU COME FROM
Stanišić, Saša
Translated from the German by Damion Searls
DB 107753

Young People’s Literature

LIFE AND CRIMES OF HOODIE ROSEN
Blum, Isaac
IN PROCESS
SELF-MADE BOYS: A GREAT GATSBY REMIX
McLemore, Anna-Marie
IN PROCESS
ALL MY RAGE: A NOVEL
Tahir, Sabaa
DB 107414
MAIZY CHEN’S LAST CHANCE
Yee, Lisa
DB 106799

National Book Award Nominees 2019

National Book Award Longlist Logo
National Book Award Longlist Logo

The National Book Awards were established in 1950 to celebrate the best writing in America. Since 1989, they have been overseen by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate the best literature in America, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in American culture. Although other categories have been recognized in the past, the Awards currently honors the best Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature published each year. For more information on the National Book Awards: https://www.nationalbook.org/

The finalists will be chosen on October 8th and the winners will be selected on November 13th, 2009.

The nominees for this year’s National Book Award in the TBP Collection:

Fiction

FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE
BRODESSER-AKNER, TAFFY
DB 95416

TRUST EXERCISE
CHOI, SUSAN
DB 94561

BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF
JAMES, MARLON
DB 93771

OTHER AMERICANS
LALAMI, LAILA
DB 94629; BR 22697 IN PROCESS

NEED
PHILLIPS, HELEN
DB 96164

DISAPPEARING EARTH
PHILLIPS, JULIA
DB 95554; LB 11258

ON EARTH WE’RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS
VUONG, OCEAN
DB 95459

NICKEL BOYS
WHITEHEAD, COLSON
DB 95925

Nonfiction

THICK: AND OTHER ESSAYS
COTTOM, TRESSIE MCMILLAN
DB 93913

WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD IS TRUE: A MEMOIR OF WITNESS AND RESISTANCE
FORCHE, CAROLYN
DB 94625

SAY NOTHING: A TRUE STORY OF MURDER AND MEMORY IN NORTHERN IRELAND
KEEFE, PATRICK RADDEN
DB 94329; LB 11261

HEARTBEAT OF WOUNDED KNEE: NATIVE AMERICA FROM 1890 TO THE PRESENT
TREUER, DAVID
DB 93988

SOLITARY: UNBROKEN BY FOUR DECADES IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT: MY STORY OF TRANSFORMATION AND HOPE
WOODFOX, ALBERT
DB 94597

Poetry

DEAF REPUBLIC: POEMS
KAMINSKY, ILYA
DB 94920; BR 22694

Translated Literature

MEMORY POLICE
OGAWA, YOKO
DB 95999

DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD
TOKARCZUK, OLGA
DB 96156

Young People’s Literature

UNDEFEATED
ALEXANDER, KWAME
BR 22617

SHOUT: A POETRY MEMOIR
ANDERSON, LAURIE HALSE
DB 94454; LB 11417

PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING
RIBAY, RANDY
DB 96003

1919: THE YEAR THAT CHANGED AMERICA
SANDLER, MARTIN W.
DB 94368

Staff Pick – Laura Jean – REDEPLOYMENT by Phil Klay, BR 20602, DB 78988

If you enjoy war stories with authentic characters that are written with a haunting and moving tone, try REDEPLOYMENT by former Marine captain and Iraq veteran, Phil Klay. He won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2014 for this collection of short stories about the complex feelings experienced by soldiers in a war zone as well as the difficulties soldiers face when returning home.

Redeployment

Written in a compelling and candid manner, these stories pack an emotional punch. Whether it’s a story relating the problems a soldier encounters on returning to civilian life or another story describing the aftermath of an IED attack, Mr. Klay has a strong familiarity with the military language and mindset.

NLS Annotation: Twelve stories about soldiers at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the personal wars they fight reintegrating into society at home. In the title story, a soldier who had to shoot dogs on the battlefield must readjust to life in suburban America. Violence. 2014.

If you enjoy this book, but would prefer the stories told from the point of view of the women left at home, try YOU KNOW WHEN THE MEN ARE GONE by Siobhan Fallon, DT 07103. Of if you’d prefer a non-fiction collection of war stories from former soldiers try THINGS THEY CANNOT SAY: STORIES SOLDIERS WON’T TELL YOU ABOUT WHAT THEY’VE SEEN, DONE, OR FAILED TO DO IN WAR edited by Kevin Sites, DB 76432.