74th National Book Awards

November 15, 2023 In-person and online

sponsors
announcement-dates

Announcement dates

September 13 — 15

Longlists announced

October 3

Finalists announced

November 15

Winners announced live at the National Book Awards Ceremony

Ceremony Details

Ceremony Details

Special guest

Oprah Winfrey

Over the course of her esteemed career, Oprah Winfrey has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world. As host of the top-rated, award-winning The Oprah Winfrey Show, she entertained, enlightened, and uplifted millions of viewers for twenty-five years. Winfrey’s accomplishments as a global media leader and philanthropist have established her as one of the most influential and admired public figures in the world today.

(Photo credit: Oprah Daily / Ruven Afanador)

lifetime achievement

2023 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (DCAL) honoree, Rita Dove. (Photo credit: Fred Viebahn)

Rita Dove

Rita Dove received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for her third collection of poetry, Thomas and Beulah. From 1993­–1995 she served as U.S. Poet Laureate at the Library of Congress. Her most recent poetry books are Sonata Mulattica, Collected Poems 1974-2004, and Playlist for the Apocalypse. She has also published short stories, essays, and the novel Through the Ivory Gate. Her play The Darker Face of the Earth had its world premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 1996 and its European premiere at the Royal National Theatre in London in 1999. Her song cycle Seven for Luck, with music by John Williams, was first presented at Tanglewood in 1998, and her song cycle A Standing Witness, with music by Richard Danielpour, at the Kennedy Center in 2021.

Dove’s most recent literary honors include the 2019 Wallace Stevens Award; the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ 2021 Gold Medal for Poetry (as the third woman and first Black poet to receive the Academy’s highest honor in its 110-year history); a 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation; and a 2022 Bobbitt Prize from the Library of Congress. President Bill Clinton presented Ms. Dove the 1996 National Humanities Medal / Charles Frankel Prize, and President Barack Obama presented her with the 2011 National Medal of Arts, making her the only poet who has received both national medals. To date, she has received 29 honorary doctorates. She teaches at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she is the Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing.

(Photo credit: Fred Viebahn)

Paul Yamazaki

Paul Yamazaki has been a bookseller at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers since 1970. He has been the principal buyer at City Lights Booksellers for more than 50 years. Yamazaki has served on the board of directors of several literary and community arts organizations, among them are the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP), Small Press Distribution (SPD), and the Kearney Street Workshop (KSW).

(Photo credit: Marissa Leshnov for The Los Angeles Times)

Longlists

Longlists

Young People's Literature

Simon Sort of Says Erin Bow Disney-Hyperion Books / Disney Publishing Worldwide
Gather Kenneth M. Cadow Candlewick Press
Forget Me Not Alyson Derrick Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / Simon & Schuster
Huda F Cares? Huda Fahmy Dial Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House
Big Vashti Harrison Little, Brown Books for Young Readers / Hachette Book Group
The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine Katherine Marsh Roaring Brook Press / Macmillan Publishers
Hidden Systems: Water, Electri­city, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day Dan Nott Random House Graphic / Penguin Random House
A First Time for Everything Dan Santat First Second / Macmillan Publishers
Parachute Kids Betty C. Tang Graphix / Scholastic, Inc.
More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washing­ton for Jobs and Freedom Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers / Macmillan Publishers

Translated Literature

The Devil of the Provinces Juan Cárdenas
Translated from the Spanish by Lizzie Davis
Coffee House Press
Cursed Bunny Bora Chung
Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur
Algonquin Books / Hachette Book Group
Beyond the Door of No Return David Diop
Translated from the French by Sam Taylor
Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers
Kairos Jenny Erpenbeck
Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann
New Directions Publishing
The Words That Remain Stênio Gardel
Translated from the Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato
New Vessel Press
No One Prayed Over Their Graves Khaled Khalifa
Translated from the Arabic by Leri Price
Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers
This Is Not Miami Fernanda Melchor
Translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes
New Directions Publishing
Abyss Pilar Quintana
Translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman
World Editions
On a Woman’s Madness Astrid Roemer
Translated from the Dutch by Lucy Scott
Two Lines Press
The Most Secret Memory of Men Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud
Other Press

Poetry

How to Communi­cate John Lee Clark W. W. Norton & Company
The Diaspora Sonnets Oliver de la Paz Liveright / W. W. Norton & Company
Vexations Annelyse Gelman University of Chicago Press
Promises of Gold José Olivarez Henry Holt and Company / Macmillan Publishers
from unincorpo­rated territory [åmot] Craig Santos Perez Omnidawn Publishing
West: A Transla­tion Paisley Rekdal Copper Canyon Press
Tripas Brandon Som Georgia Review Books / University of Georgia Press
Trace Evidence Charif Shanahan Tin House Books
suddenly we Evie Shockley Wesleyan University Press
From From Monica Youn Graywolf Press

Nonfiction

The Rediscov­ery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History Ned Blackhawk Yale University Press
King: A Life Jonathan Eig Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers
A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial Viet Thanh Nguyen Grove Press / Grove Atlantic
When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunder­stood Era Donovan X. Ramsey One World / Penguin Random House
Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice Cristina Rivera Garza Hogarth / Penguin Random House
The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever Prudence Peiffer Harper / HarperCollins Publishers
Ordinary Notes Christina Sharpe Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers
We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestin­ian Memoir Raja Shehadeh Other Press
Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World John Vaillant Knopf / Penguin Random House
I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction Kidada E. Williams Bloomsbury Publishing

Fiction

Chain-Gang All-Stars Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Pantheon Books / Penguin Random House
Temple Folk Aaliyah Bilal Simon & Schuster
Ponyboy Eliot Duncan W. W. Norton & Company
This Other Eden Paul Harding W. W. Norton & Company
Loot Tania James Knopf / Penguin Random House
Night Watch Jayne Anne Phillips Knopf / Penguin Random House
A Council of Dolls Mona Susan Power Mariner Books / HarperCollins Publishers
The End of Drum-Time Hanna Pylväinen Henry Holt and Company / Macmillan Publishers
Blackouts Justin Torres Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers
Holler, Child LaToya Watkins Tiny Reparations Books / Penguin Random House
Additional Events

Additional Events

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

National Book Awards Teen Press Conference    In person & livestreamed

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

National Book Awards Finalist Reading    In person & livestreamed

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Awards and Honors Manager
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