Every winner, newest first

National Book Award for Fiction Winners

1950 to 2025

Winners by year

Newest first. The year links to everything published or awarded that year.

National Book Award for Fiction Winners, newest first
Year	Book and author
2025	The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine
2024	James by Percival Everett
2023	Blackouts by Justin Torres
2022	The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty
2021	Hell of a Book by Jason Mott
2020	Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
2019	Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
2018	The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
2017	Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
2016	The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
2015	Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson
2014	Redeployment by Phil Klay
2013	The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
2012	The Round House by Louise Erdrich
2011	Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
2010	Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
2009	Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
2008	Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen
2007	Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
2006	The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
2005	Europe Central by William T. Vollmann
2004	The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck
2003	The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
2002	Three Junes by Julia Glass
2001	The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
2000	In America by Susan Sontag
1999	Waiting by Ha Jin
1998	Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
1997	Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
1996	Ship Fever and Other Stories by Andrea Barrett
1995	Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth
1994	A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis
1993	The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
1992	All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
1991	Mating by Norman Rush
1990	Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
1989	Spartina by John Casey
1988	Paris Trout by Pete Dexter
1987	Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann
1986	World's Fair by E. L. Doctorow
1985	White Noise by Don DeLillo
1984	Victory over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist
1983	The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1982	Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
1981	Plains Song: For Female Voices by Wright Morris
1980	Sophie's Choice by William Styron
1979	Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien
1978	Blood Tie by Mary Lee Settle
1977	The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner
1976	J R by William Gaddis
1975	The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams
1975	Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
1974	Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
1974	A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer
1973	Chimera by John Barth
1973	Augustus by John Williams
1972	The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
1971	Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow
1970	them by Joyce Carol Oates
1969	Steps by Jerzy Kosiński
1968	The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
1967	The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
1966	The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter
1965	Herzog by Saul Bellow
1964	The Centaur by John Updike
1963	Morte d'Urban by J. F. Powers
1962	The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
1961	The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter
1960	Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth
1959	The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud
1958	The Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever
1957	The Field of Vision by Wright Morris
1956	Ten North Frederick by John O'Hara
1955	A Fable by William Faulkner
1954	The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
1953	Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
1952	From Here to Eternity by James Jones
1951	The Collected Stories of William Faulkner by William Faulkner
1950	The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren

About the National Book Award for Fiction

The National Book Award for Fiction is one of America's most prestigious literary prizes, awarded annually since 1950 to a novel of exceptional literary merit. Winners include Saul Bellow, Don DeLillo, and Jesmyn Ward.

Awarded by: National Book Foundation
First awarded: 1950
Country: United States
Winner receives: $10,000

When it is announced

Winners are announced at a ceremony in November, after a longlist in September and finalists in October. See the full announcement calendar.

How to enter

Publishers submit, for a fee, and the author must be a United States citizen. Submissions usually open in the spring and close in the summer.

Official prize site. Checked August 2026. Dates move year to year, so confirm on the official site before entering.