National Book Award
The National Book Awards is one of the most preeminent literary prizes in the United States. Started in 1950, the awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the prior year, as well as lifetime achievement awards including the "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" and the "Literarian Award". The purpose of the awards is "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." In 1988 the National Book Foundation was established which now oversees and manages the National Book Awards.
Awards are in each of four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature. The awards have historically been in various other categories, many of which have been retired or subsumed into other categories.
The winners are selected in each category by an independent, expert and volunteer five-member judging panel. Panels typically look at and read hundreds of books in each category. A chair from each panel announces the runners-up and winner during the "The National Book Awards Ceremony and Dinner" held each year in November. The winner receive a $10,000 cash prize and a crystal sculpture, runners-up each receive $1,000.
Winners of the National Book Awards
Current categories
Fiction
Nonfiction
Poetry
See: National Book Award for Poetry
Young People's Literature
| 1996 | Victor Martinez | |
| 1997 | Han Nolan | Dancing on the Edge |
| 1998 | Louis Sachar | Holes |
| 1999 | Kimberly Willis Holt | When Zachary Beaver Came to Town |
| 2000 | Gloria Whelan | Homeless Bird |
| 2001 | Virginia Euwer Wolff | True Believer |
| 2002 | Nancy Farmer | The House of the Scorpion |
| 2003 | Polly Horvath | The Canning Season |
| 2004 | Pete Hautman | Godless |
| 2005 | Jeanne Birdsall | The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy |
| 2006 | M.T. Anderson | The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. I |
Previous categories
In 1964, the categories Arts and Letters, History and Biography & Science, Philosophy and Religion categories had the addendum (Nonfiction).
In 1981, Children's Books, Fiction was called Children's Book, Fiction; and in 1983 it was called Children's Fiction.
In 1981, Children's Books, Non-fiction was called Children's Book, Nonfiction.
In 1983 Children's Books, Picture Books was called Children's Books, Picture Books.
First Novel
| 1980 | William Wharton | Birdy |
| 1981 | Ann Arensberg | Sister Wolf |
| 1982 | Robb Forman Dew | Dale Loves Sophie to Death |
| 1983 | Gloria Naylor | The Women of Brewster Place |
First Work of Fiction
| 1984 | Harriet Doerr | Stones for Ibarra |
| 1985 | Bob Shacochis | Easy in the Islands |
Science Fiction
| 1980 Hardcover | Frederik Pohl | Jem |
| 1980 Paperback | Walter Wangerin, Jr. | The Book of the Dun Cow |
1991 PaperbackRay BradburyFahrenheit 451
Mystery
| 1980 Hardcover | John D. MacDonald | The Green Ripper |
Western
| 1980 | Louis L'Amour | Bendigo Shafter |
Original Paperback
| 1983 | Lisa Goldstein | The Red Magician |
General Nonfiction
| 1980 Hardcover | Tom Wolfe | The Right Stuff |
| 1980 Paperback | Peter Matthiessen | The Snow Leopard |
| 1981 Hardcover | Maxine Hong Kingston | China Men |
| 1981 Paperback | Jane Kramer | The Last Cowboy |
| 1982 Hardcover | Tracy Kidder | The Soul of a New Machine |
| 1982 Paperback | Victor S. Navasky | Naming Names |
| 1983 Hardcover | Fox Butterfield | |
| 1983 Paperback | James Fallows | National Defense |
Arts and Letters
| 1964 | Aileen Ward | |
| 1965 | Eleanor Clark | The Oysters of Locmariaquer |
| 1966 | Janet Flanner | Paris Journal, 1944-1965 |
| 1967 | Justin Kaplan | |
| 1968 | William Troy | Selected Essays |
| 1969 | Norman Mailer | |
| 1970 | Lillian Hellman | |
| 1971 | Francis Steegmuller | |
| 1972 | Charles Rosen | |
| 1973 | Arthur M. Wilson | Diderot |
| 1974 | Pauline Kael | Deeper Into Movies |
| 1975 | Roger Shattuck | Marcel Proust |
| 1975 | Lewis Thomas | The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (also won The Sciences award) |
| 1976 | Paul Fussell | The Great War and Modern Memory |
History and Biography
| 1964 | William H. McNeill | |
| 1965 | Louis Fischer | The Life of Lenin |
| 1966 | Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. | A Thousand Days |
| 1967 | Peter Gay | |
| 1968 | George F. Kennan | |
| 1969 | Winthrop D. Jordan | |
| 1970 | T. Harry Williams | Huey Long |
| 1971 | James MacGregor Burns | |
| 1976 | David Brion Davis | The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823 |
History
| 1972 | Allan Nevins | |
| 1973 | Robert Manson Myers | The Children of Pride Isaiah Trunk |
| 1973 | Isaiah Trunk | Judenrat |
| 1974 | John Clive | (also won Biography award) |
| 1975 | Bernard Bailyn | The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson (article on Thomas Hutchinson) |
| 1977 | Irving Howe | World of Our Fathers |
| 1978 | David McCullough | The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914 |
| 1979 | Richard Beale Davis | Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585-1763 |
| 1980 Hardcover | Henry A. Kissinger | The White House (Kissinger) |
| 1980 Paperback | Barbara W. Tuchman | |
| 1981 Hardcover | John Boswell | Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality |
| 1981 Paperback | Leon F. Litwack | |
| 1982 Hardcover | Father Peter John Powell | |
| 1982 Paperback | Robert Wohl | The Generation of 1914 |
| 1983 Hardcover | Alan Brinkley | |
| 1983 Paperback | Frank E. Manuel & Fritzie P. Manuel | Utopian Thought in the Western World |
Biography
| 1972 | Joseph P. Lash | |
| 1973 | James Thomas Flexner | |
| 1974 | John Clive | (also won History award) |
| 1974 | Douglas Day | |
| 1975 | Richard B. Sewall | The Life of Emily Dickinson |
| 1980 Hardcover | Edmund Morris | The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt |
| 1980 Paperback | A. Scott Berg |
Biography and Autobiography
| 1977 | W. A. Swanberg | |
| 1978 | W. Jackson Bate | Samuel Johnson |
| 1979 | Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. | Robert Kennedy and His Times |
Autobiography
| 1980 Hardcover | Lauren Bacall | Lauren Bacall by Myself |
| 1980 Paperback | Malcolm Cowley |
Autobiography/Biography
| 1981 Hardcover | Justin Kaplan | Walt Whitman |
| 1981 Paperback | Deirdre Bair | Samuel Beckett |
| 1982 Hardcover | David McCullough | Mornings on Horseback |
| 1982 Paperback | Ronald Steel | Walter Lippmann and the American Century |
| 1983 Hardcover | Judith Thurman | |
| 1983 Paperback | James R. Mellow | Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Time |
Science, Philosophy and Religion
The Sciences
| 1969 | Robert J. Lifton | |
| 1971 | Raymond Phineas Sterns | Science in the British Colonies of America |
| 1972 | George L. Small | The Blue Whale |
| 1973 | George B. Schaller | |
| 1974 | S. E. Luria | |
| 1975 | Silvano Arieti | Interpretation of Schizophrenia |
| 1975 | Lewis Thomas | The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (also won Arts and Letters award) |
Science
| 1980 Hardcover | Douglas Hofstadter | Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid |
| 1980 Paperback | Gary Zukav | |
| 1981 Hardcover | Stephen Jay Gould | |
| 1981 Paperback | Lewis Thomas | The Medusa and the Snail |
| 1982 Hardcover | Donald C. Johanson & Maitland A. Edey | |
| 1982 Paperback | Fred Alan Wolf | |
| 1983 Hardcover | Abraham Pais | |
| 1983 Paperback | Philip J. Davis & Reuben Hersh | The Mathematical Experience |
| 1983 Paperback | Joyce Carol Thomas | Marked by Fire |
Philosophy and Religion
| 1970 | Erik H. Erikson | |
| 1972 | Martin E. Marty | |
| 1973 | S. E. Ahlstrom | A Religious History of the American People |
| 1974 | Maurice Natanson | |
| 1975 | Robert Nozick | Anarchy, State, and Utopia |
Religion/Inspiration
| 1980 Hardcover | Elaine Pagels | The Gnostic Gospels |
| 1980 Paperback | Sheldon Vanauken | A Severe Mercy |
Contemporary Affairs
| 1972 | Stewart Brand (ed.) | The Last Whole Earth Catalogue |
| 1973 | Frances FitzGerald | |
| 1974 | Murray Kempton | The Briar Patch |
| 1975 | Theodore Rosengarten | |
| 1976 | Michael J. Arlen | Passage to Ararat |
Contemporary Thought
| 1977 | Bruno Bettelheim | |
| 1978 | Gloria Emerson | Winners & Losers |
| 1979 | Peter Matthiessen | The Snow Leopard |
Current Interest
| 1980 Hardcover | Julia Child | Julia Child and More Company |
| 1980 Paperback | Christopher Lasch | The Culture of Narcissism |
General Reference Books
| 1980 Hardcover | Elder Witt (ed.) | The Complete Directory |
| 1980 Paperback | Tim Brooks & Earle Marsh |
Translation
| 1967 | Gregory Rabassa | Julio Cortázar's Hopscotch |
| 1967 | Willard Trask | Casanova's History of My Life |
| 1968 | Howard & Edna Hong | Søren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers |
| 1969 | William Weaver | Italo Calvino's Cosmicomics |
| 1970 | Ralph Manheim | Céline's Castle to Castle |
| 1971 | Frank Jones | Bertolt Brecht's Saint Joan of the Stockyards |
| 1971 | Edward G. Seidensticker | Yasunari Kawabata's The Sound of The Mountain |
| 1972 | Austryn Wainhouse | Jacques Monod's Chance and Necessity |
| 1973 | Allen Mandelbaum | The Aeneid of Virgil |
| 1974 | Karen Brazell | The Confessions of Lady Nijo |
| 1974 | Helen R. Lane | Octavio Paz's Alternating Current |
| 1974 | Jackson Matthews | Paul Valéry's Monsieur Teste |
| 1975 | Anthony Kerrigan | Miguel de Unamuno's The Agony of Christianity and Essays on Faith |
| 1977 | Li-Li Ch'en | Master Tung's Western Chamber Romance |
| 1978 | Howard Nemerov | Uwe George's In the Deserts of This Earth |
| 1979 | Clayton Eshleman & Jose Rubin Barcia | César Vallejo's The Complete Posthumous Poetry |
| 1980 | William Arrowsmith | Cesare Pavese's Hard Labor |
| 1980 | Jane Gary Harris & Constance Link | Osip E. Mandelstam's Complete Critical Prose and Letters |
| 1981 | Francis Steegmuller | The Letters of Gustave Flaubert |
| 1981 | John E. Woods | Arno Schmidt's Evening Edged in Gold |
| 1982 | Robert Lyons Danly | Higuchi Ichiyo's In the Shade of Spring Leaves |
| 1982 | Ian Hideo Levy | |
| 1983 | Richard Howard | Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal |
Children's Literature
| 1969 | Meindert DeJong | Journey from Peppermint Street |
| 1976 | Walter D. Edmonds | Bert Breen's Barn |
| 1977 | Katherine Paterson | The Master Puppeteer |
| 1978 | Judith & Herbert Kohl | The View From the Oak |
| 1979 | Katherine Paterson | The Great Gilly Hopkins |
Children's Books
| 1970 | Isaac Bashevis Singer | |
| 1971 | Lloyd Alexander | The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian |
| 1972 | Donald Barthelme | The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine or The Hithering Thithering Djinn |
| 1973 | Ursula K. Le Guin | The Farthest Shore |
| 1974 | Eleanor Cameron | The Court of the Stone Children |
| 1975 | Virginia Hamilton | M. C. Higgins the Great |
| 1980 Hardcover | Joan Blos | A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal |
| 1980 Paperback | Madeleine L'Engle | A Swiftly Tilting Planet |
Children's Books, Fiction
| 1981 Hardcover | Betsy Byars | The Night Swimmers |
| 1981 Paperback | Beverly Cleary | Ramona and Her Mother |
| 1982 Hardcover | Lloyd Alexander | Westmark |
| 1982 Paperback | Ouida Sebestyen | Words by Heart |
| 1983 Hardcover | Jean Fritz | |
| 1983 Paperback | Paula Fox | A Place Apart |
| 1983 Paperback | Joyce Carol Thomas | Marked by Fire |
Children's Books, Non-fiction
| 1981 Hardcover | Alison Cragin Herzig & Jane Lawrence | Mali -- Oh, Boy! Babies |
| 1982 | Susan Bonners | A Penguin Year |
| 1983 | James Cross Giblin | Chimney Sweeps |
Children's Books, Picture Books
| 1982 Hardcover | Maurice Sendak | Outside Over There |
| 1982 Paperback | Peter Spier | Noah's Ark |
| 1983 Hardcover | Barbara Cooney | Miss Rumphius |
| 1983 Hardcover | William Steig | Doctor De Soto |
| 1983 Paperback | Mary Ann Hoberman & Betty Fraser (ill.) | A House is a House for Me |
Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
The "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" (DCAL) is a lifetime achievement award. The medal comes with $10,000. The recipient is a person who "has enriched American literary heritage over a life of service, or a corpus of work." [1]
- 2006 - Adrienne Rich
- 2005 - Norman Mailer
- 2004 - Judy Blume
- 2003 - Stephen King
- 2002 - Philip Roth
- 2001 - Arthur Miller
- 2000 - Ray Bradbury
- 1999 - Oprah Winfrey
- 1998 - John Updike
- 1997 - Studs Turkel
- 1996 - Toni Morrison
- 1995 - David McCullough
- 1994 - Gwendolyn Brooks
- 1993 - Clifton Fadiman
- 1992 - James Laughlin
- 1991 - Eudora Welty
Literarian Award
The "Literarian Award" is a lifetime achievement award. It is "presented to an individual for outstanding service to the American literary community, whose life and work exemplify the goals of the National Book Foundation to expand the audience for literature and to enhance the cultural value of literature in America."[2]
- 2006 - Robert B. Silvers and Barbara Epstein
- 2005 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti
See also
- The Man Booker Prize
- The Commonwealth Writers Prize
- The Prix Goncourt
- The Costa Book Awards, formerly the Whitbread Book Awards
- The Governor General's Award
- Literary festival
External links
Categories
American literary awards | Poetry awards | 1950 establishments