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The National Book Awards 2023

Awards

The National Book Awards 2023

The winners of the 2023 National Book Award in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature and Young People's Literature were announced on November 15th at the 74th National Book Awards Ceremony.

Two lifetime achievement awards also were presented as part of the evening’s ceremony. Paul Yamazaki, a bookseller at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers since 1970, received the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. And Rita Dove, who received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for her third collection of poetry, THOMAS AND BEULAH, was recognized with the Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Established in 1950, the National Book Award is an American literary prize given to writers by writers and administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization. More information about the National Book Awards can be found here.
 



2023 Winners

 

Fiction

  • BLACKOUTS by Justin Torres (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Nonfiction

  • THE REDISCOVERY OF AMERICA: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, by Ned Blackhawk (Yale University Press)

Poetry

  • FROM UNINCORPORATED TERRITORY [ÅMOT] by Craig Santos Perez (Omnidawn)

Translated Literature

  • THE WORDS THAT REMAIN by Stênio Gardel, translated from the Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato (New Vessel Press)

Young People’s Literature

  • A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING by Dan Santat (First Second)
     


2023 Shortlists

 

Fiction

  • CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Pantheon)
  • TEMPLE FOLK by Aaliyah Bilal (Simon & Schuster)
  • THIS OTHER EDEN by Paul Harding (W. W. Norton & Company)
  • THE END OF DRUM-TIME by Hanna Pylväinen (Henry Holt and Co.)
  • BLACKOUTS by Justin Torres (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Nonfiction

  • THE REDISCOVERY OF AMERICA: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, by Ned Blackhawk (Yale University Press)
  • LILIANA'S INVINCIBLE SUMMER: A Sister’s Search for Justice, by Cristina Rivera Garza (Hogarth)
  • ORDINARY NOTES by Christina Sharpe (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • WE COULD HAVE BEEN FRIENDS, MY FATHER AND I: A Palestinian Memoir, by Raja Shehadeh (Other Press)
  • FIRE WEATHER: A True Story from a Hotter World, by John Vaillant (Knopf)

Poetry

  • HOW TO COMMUNICATE by John Lee Clark (W. W. Norton & Company)
  • FROM UNINCORPORATED TERRITORY [ÅMOT] by Craig Santos Perez (Omnidawn)
  • WEST: A Translation, by Paisley Rekdal (Copper Canyon Press)
  • TRIPAS by Brandon Som (Georgia Review Books)
  • SUDDENLY WE by Evie Shockley (Wesleyan University Press)
  • FROM FROM by Monica Youn (Graywolf Press)

Translated Literature

  • CURSED BUNNY: Stories, by Bora Chung, translated from the Korean by Anton Hur (Algonquin Books)
  • BEYOND THE DOOR OF NO RETURN by David Diop, translated from the French by Sam Taylor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • THE WORDS THAT REMAIN by Stênio Gardel, translated from the Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato (New Vessel Press)
  • ABYSS by Pilar Quintana, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman (World Editions)
  • ON A WOMAN'S MADNESS by Astrid Roemer, translated from the Dutch by Lucy Scott (Two Lines Press)

Young People’s Literature

  • GATHER by Kenneth M. Cadow (Candlewick Press)
  • HUDA F CARES? by Huda Fahmy (Dial Books)
  • BIG by Vashti Harrison (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
  • THE LOST YEAR: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine, by Katherine Marsh (Roaring Brook Press)
  • A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING by Dan Santat (First Second)
     


2023 Longlists

 

Fiction

  • CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Pantheon)
  • TEMPLE FOLK by Aaliyah Bilal (Simon & Schuster)
  • PONYBOY by Eliot Duncan (W. W. Norton & Company)
  • THIS OTHER EDEN by Paul Harding (W. W. Norton & Company)
  • LOOT by Tania James (Knopf)
  • NIGHT WATCH by Jayne Anne Phillips (Knopf)
  • A COUNCIL OF DOLLS by Mona Susan Power (Mariner Books)
  • THE END OF DRUM-TIME by Hanna Pylväinen (Henry Holt and Co.)
  • BLACKOUTS by Justin Torres (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • HOLLER, CHILD by LaToya Watkins (Tiny Reparations Books)

Nonfiction

  • THE REDISCOVERY OF AMERICA: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, by Ned Blackhawk (Yale University Press)
  • KING: A Life, by Jonathan Eig (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • A MAN OF TWO FACES: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial, by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press)
  • THE SLIP: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever, by Prudence Peiffer (Harper)
  • WHEN CRACK WAS KING: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era, by Donovan X. Ramsey (One World)
  • LILIANA'S INVINCIBLE SUMMER: A Sister’s Search for Justice, by Cristina Rivera Garza (Hogarth)
  • ORDINARY NOTES by Christina Sharpe (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • WE COULD HAVE BEEN FRIENDS, MY FATHER AND I: A Palestinian Memoir, by Raja Shehadeh (Other Press)
  • FIRE WEATHER: A True Story from a Hotter World, by John Vaillant (Knopf)
  • I SAW DEATH COMING: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction, by Kidada E. Williams (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Poetry

  • HOW TO COMMUNICATE by John Lee Clark (W. W. Norton & Company)
  • THE DIASPORA SONNETS by Oliver de la Paz (Liveright)
  • VEXATIONS by Annelyse Gelman (University of Chicago Press)
  • PROMISES OF GOLD by José Olivarez (Henry Holt and Co.)
  • FROM UNINCORPORATED TERRITORY [ÅMOT] by Craig Santos Perez (Omnidawn)
  • WEST: A Translation, by Paisley Rekdal (Copper Canyon Press)
  • TRIPAS by Brandon Som (Georgia Review Books)
  • TRACE EVIDENCE by Charif Shanahan (Tin House Books)
  • SUDDENLY WE by Evie Shockley (Wesleyan University Press)
  • FROM FROM by Monica Youn (Graywolf Press)

Translated Literature

  • DEVIL OF THE PROVINCES by Juan Cárdenas, translated from the Spanish by Lizzie Davis (Coffee House Press)
  • CURSED BUNNY: Stories, by Bora Chung, translated from the Korean by Anton Hur (Algonquin Books)
  • BEYOND THE DOOR OF NO RETURN by David Diop, translated from the French by Sam Taylor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • KAIROS by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann (New Directions)
  • THE WORDS THAT REMAIN by Stênio Gardel, translated from the Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato (New Vessel Press)
  • NO ONE PRAYED OVER THEIR GRAVES by Khaled Khalifa, translated from the Arabic by Leri Price (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • THIS IS NOT MIAMI by Fernanda Melchor, translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes (New Directions)
  • ABYSS by Pilar Quintana, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman (World Editions)
  • ON A WOMAN'S MADNESS by Astrid Roemer, translated from the Dutch by Lucy Scott (Two Lines Press)
  • THE MOST SECRET MEMORY OF MEN by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Other Press)

Young People’s Literature

  • SIMON SORT OF SAYS by Erin Bow (Disney-Hyperion)
  • GATHER by Kenneth M. Cadow (Candlewick Press)
  • FORGET ME NOT by Alyson Derrick (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
  • HUDA F CARES? by Huda Fahmy (Dial Books)
  • BIG by Vashti Harrison (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
  • THE LOST YEAR: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine, by Katherine Marsh (Roaring Brook Press)
  • HIDDEN SYSTEMS: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day, by Dan Nott (Random House Graphic)
  • A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING by Dan Santat (First Second)
  • PARACHUTE KIDS by Betty C. Tang (Graphix)
  • MORE THAN A DREAM: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, by Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers)