The National Book Critics Circle Awards

Each year, the National Book Critics Circle presents awards for the finest books published in English in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism.

In addition, we award two prizes voted on by membership: the John Leonard Prize for the best first book in any genre and the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize, for the best book of any genre translated into English and published in the United States. We also award the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, which recognizes outstanding work by a member of the NBCC, and the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award and Toni Morrison Achievement Award, which are given respectively to individuals and literary institutions for transformative contributions to book culture.

2024 Winners & Finalists with Longlisted Books

    Fiction

  • Ayşegül Savaş, The Anthropologists (Bloomsbury)
  • Marie-Helene Bertino, Beautyland (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Danzy Senna, Colored Television (Riverhead)
  • Joseph O'Neill, Godwin (Pantheon)
  • Vinson Cunningham, Great Expectations (Hogarth)
  • Percival Everett, James (Doubleday)
  • Hisham Matar, My Friends (Random House)
  • Scholastique Mukasonga, translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti , Sister Deborah (Archipelago)
  • Garth Greenwell, Small Rain (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Nora Lange, Us Fools (Two Dollar Radio)

    Nonfiction

  • Steve Coll, The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq (Penguin Press)
  • Adam Higginbotham, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space (Avid Reader)
  • Lawrence Ingrassia, A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery (Holt)
  • Tricia Romano, The Freaks Came Out To Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture (PublicAffairs)
  • Brian VanDeMark, Kent State: An American Tragedy (W. W. Norton)
  • Zoë Schlanger, The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth (Harper)
  • Gretchen Sisson, Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood (St. Martin’s)
  • John Edgar Wideman, Slaveroad (Scribner)
  • Hanif Abdurraqib, There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension (Random House)
  • Edwidge Danticat, We’re Alone (Graywolf)

    Biography

  • Jane Kamensky, Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution: A History from Below (W. W. Norton)
  • Cynthia Carr, Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • David Greenberg, John Lewis: A Life (Simon and Schuster)
  • Jean Strouse, Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Jackie Wullschläger, Monet: The Restless Vision (Knopf)
  • Tiya Miles, Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People (Penguin Press)
  • Max Boot, Reagan: His Life and Legend (Liveright)
  • Adam Shatz, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • James Traub, True Believer: Hubert Humphrey’s Quest for a More Just America (Basic Books)
  • Amy Reading, The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker (Mariner)

    Autobiography

  • Tessa Hulls, Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Manjula Martin, The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History (Pantheon)
  • Jakuta Alikavazovic, translated from the French by Daniel Levin Becker, Like a Sky Inside (Fern)
  • Wei Tchou, Little Seed (Deep Vellum)
  • Zito Madu, The Minotaur at Calle Lanza (Belt)
  • Komail Aijazuddin, Manboobs: A Memoir of Musicals, Visas, Hope, and Cake (Abrams Press)
  • Erika Morillo, Mother Archive: A Dominican Family Memoir (University of Iowa)
  • Sarah Moss, My Good Bright Wolf: A Memoir (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Alexei Navalny, translation by Arch Tait with Stephen Dalziel, Patriot: A Memoir (Knopf)
  • Patricia Coral, Women Surrounded by Water: A Memoir (Mad Creek)

    Poetry

  • Jennifer Chang, An Authentic Life (Copper Canyon)
  • Kenzie Allen, Cloud Missives (Tin House)
  • Oliver Baez Bendorf, Consider the Rooster (Nightboat)
  • V. Penelope Pelizzon , A Gaze Hound That Hunteth by the Eye (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Dawn Lundy Martin, Instructions for the Lovers (Nightboat)
  • Armen Davoudian, The Palace of Forty Pillars (Tin House)
  • Carl Phillips, Scattered Snows, to the North (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Kwame Dawes, Sturge Town (W. W. Norton)
  • Anne Carson, Wrong Norma (New Directions)
  • Janice N. Harrington, Yard Show (BOA)

    Criticism

  • Legacy Russell, Black Meme: A History of the Images that Make Us (Verso)
  • Jesse McCarthy, The Blue Period: Black Writing in the Early Cold War (University of Chicago)
  • Claire Bishop, Disordered Attention: How We Look at Art and Performance Today (Verso)
  • Marianne Brooker, Intervals (Fitzcarraldo)
  • Vanessa Angélica Villarreal , Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders (Tiny Reparations)
  • Sofia Samatar, Opacities: On Writing and the Writing Life (Soft Skull)
  • Isabella Hammad, Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative (Black Cat)
  • Hanif Abdurraqib, There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension (Random House)
  • John Ganz, When The Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Ronnie A. Grinberg, Write like a Man: Jewish Masculinity and the New York Intellectuals (Princeton University)

    John Leonard Prize

  • Rebecca Nagle, By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight For Justice on Native Land (Harper)
  • Tessa Hulls, Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  • Vinson Cunningham, Great Expectations (Hogarth)
  • Carrie Courogen, Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius (St. Martin’s)
  • Cindy Juyoung Ok, Ward Toward (Yale University)
  • John Ganz, When The Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

    Gregg Barrios Book in Translation

  • Elias Khoury, translation by Humphrey Davies, The Children of the Ghetto: Star of the Sea (Archipelago)
  • László Krasznahorkai, translation by Ottilie Mulzet, Herscht 07769 (New Directions)
  • Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale, Holy Winter 20/21 (New Directions)
  • Pedro Lemebel, translation by Gwendolyn Harper, A Last Supper of Queer Apostles (Penguin Classics)
  • Jakuta Alikavazovic, translated from the French by Daniel Levin Becker, Like a Sky Inside (Fern)
  • Rodrigo Fresán, translation by Will Vanderhyden, Melvill (Open Letter)
  • Xi Xi, translated from the Chinese by Jennifer Feeley, Mourning a Breast (New York Review Books)
  • by Dubravka Ugrešić, translated from the Croatian by Ellen Elias- Bursać, A Muzzle for Witches (Open Letter)
  • Judith Kiros, translation by Kira Josefsson, O (World Poetry)
  • Yoko Tawada, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky, Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel (New Directions)
  • Iman Mersal, translation by Robin Moger, Traces of Enayat (Transit)
  • Emmanuel Carrère, translated from the French by John Lambert, V13: Chronicle of a Trial (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

    Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing

  • Joanna Biggs
  • Sarah Chihaya
  • Rhoda Feng
  • Lauren Michele Jackson
  • Jeremy Lybarger

    Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award

  • Sandra Cisneros

    Toni Morrison Achievement Award

  • Third World Press

    NBCC Service Award

  • Lori Lynn Turner