National Book Award - Fiction

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

National Book Foundation, 77 Books

The National Book Awards are among the most eminent 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 celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America.

who votes?
There are 5 people who vote every year

This list is a yearly book award, and was added to this site over 12 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
587 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
1468 The Collected Stories of William Faulkner William Faulkner 1950 American English
688 From Here to Eternity James Jones 1951 American English
36 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison 1952 American English
280 The Adventures of Augie March Saul Bellow 1953 American English
7165 A Fable William Faulkner 1954 American English
4592 Ten North Frederick John O'Hara 1955 American English
6871 The Field of Vision Wright Morris 1956 American English
1152 The Wapshot Chronicle John Cheever 1957 American English
6439 The Magic Barrel Bernard Malamud 1958 American English
2798 Goodbye, Columbus Philip Roth 1959 American English
14347 The Waters of Kronos Conrad Richter 1960 American English
182 The Moviegoer Walker Percy 1961 American English
13542 Morte D'Urban J. F. Powers 1962 American English
12178 The Centaur John Updike 1963 American English
298 Herzog Saul Bellow 1964 American English
4705 The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter 1965 American English
1718 The Fixer Bernard Malamud 1966 American English
10982 The Eighth Day Thornton Wilder 1967 American English
13542 Steps Jerzy Kosinski 1968 Polish English
685 Them Joyce Carol Oates 1969 American English
13542 Mr. Sammler's Planet Saul Bellow 1970 American English
350 The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor Flannery O'Connor 1971 American English
12045 Chimera John Barth 1972 American English
7073 Augustus John Williams 1972 American English
254 Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon 1973 American English
13242 A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories Isaac Bashevis Singer 1973 Polish English
2952 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
10962 The Hair of Harold Roux Thomas Williams 1974 American English
13542 The Spectator Bird Wallace Stegner 1976 American English
14347 Blood Tie Mary Lee Settle 1977 American English
9959 Going After Cacciato Tim O'Brien 1978 American English
803 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1979 American English
407 The World According to Garp John Irving 1978 American English
14347 Plains Song Wright Morris 1980 American English
680 The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever 1978 American English
686 Rabbit Is Rich John Updike 1981 American English
539 So Long, See You Tomorrow William Maxwell 1980 American English
157 The Color Purple Alice Walker 1982 American English
1379 The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty Eudora Welty 1980 American English
11477 Victory Over Japan Ellen Gilchrist 1984 American English
364 White Noise Don DeLillo 1985 American English
7875 World's Fair E. L. Doctorow 1985 American English
14347 Paco's Story Larry Heinemann 1986 American English
3166 Paris Trout Pete Dexter 1988 American English
13542 Spartina John Casey 1989 American English
14347 Middle Passage Charles R. Johnson 1990 American English
1200 Mating Norman Rush 1991 American English
751 All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy 1992 American English
488 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 Canadian English
8958 A Frolic of His Own William Gaddis 1994 American English
1758 Sabbath's Theater Philip Roth 1995 American English
14347 Ship Fever and Other Stories Andrea Barrett 1996 American English
1877 Cold Mountain Charles Frazier 1997 American English
3563 Charming Billy Alice McDermott 1998 American English
2207 Waiting Ha Jin 1999 Chinese English
14347 In America Susan Sontag 2000 American English
237 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
13542 Three Junes Julia Glass 2002 American English
2816 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard 2003 Australian English
14347 The News from Paraguay Lily Tuck 2004 American English
9730 Europe Central William T. Vollmann 2005 American English
12008 The Echo Maker Richard Powers 2006 American English
2100 Tree of Smoke Denis Johnson 2007 American English
14347 Shadow Country Peter Matthiessen 2008 American English
1958 Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann 2009 Irish English
14347 Lord of Misrule Rachel Caine 2008 American English
1368 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
2069 The Round House Louise Erdrich 2012 American English
4163 The Good Lord Bird James McBride 2013 American English
3852 JR William Gaddis 1975 American English
8503 Redeployment Phil Klay 2014 American English
14347 Fortune Smiles Adam Johnson 2015 American English
770 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016 American English
1650 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
2805 James Percival Everett 2024 American English
8518 The True True Story Of Raja The Gullible Rabih Alameddine 2025 American English