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The National Book Award for Fiction
71 winning novels and 333 more on the shortlists, 1950 to 2026. The other lists in The Novel Index show which of them have lasted.
Latest winner (2025): The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine
The National Book Award for Fiction is given by the National Book Foundation to American authors. Its judges are mostly writers, and the list is a good complement to the Pulitzer because the two prizes often disagree. Use the winners that also appear elsewhere as your shortlist.
Invisible Man is a Canon book and a demanding, rewarding one. The Corrections is a long, funny family novel set in the American Midwest. The Color Purple is told in letters and moves fast. The Underground Railroad imagines the escape route as a real railway, and James retells Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim. Both are recent and gripping.
Winners and shortlists from National Book Foundation. The prize's own record · Every book from this prize in the index
The winners the lists rate highest
The Corrections is the National Book Award for Fiction winner the other lists rate highest, on 5 other lists.
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When the shortlist outlasted the winner
The widest gap came in 1959, when Lolita lost to the winner: it is now on 11 of our lists, the winner on 0.
Years when a shortlisted novel is now on more of our lists than the book that won.
| Year | Shortlisted | Lists | Winner | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Lolita Vladimir Nabokov | 11 | ||
| 1961 | To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee | 11 | The Waters of Kronos | 1 |
| 1962 | Catch-22 Joseph Heller | 11 | The Moviegoer | 3 |
| 1952 | The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger | 10 | From Here to Eternity | 2 |
| 1987 | Beloved Toni Morrison | 9 | Paco's Story | 1 |
| 2015 | A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara | 6 | ||
| 2014 | All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr | 4 | ||
| 1997 | Underworld Don DeLillo | 4 | Cold Mountain | 1 |
| 1970 | Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut | 4 | them | 1 |
| 1963 | Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov | 4 | Morte d'Urban | 1 |
| 1981 | So Long, See You Tomorrow William Maxwell | 4 | Plains Song | 1 |
| 2003 | The Known World Edward P. Jones | 4 | The Great Fire | 2 |
Every National Book Award for Fiction winner, year by year
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) won in 2025. The first winner, in 1950, was The Man with the Golden Arm.
| Year | Winner | Author | Tier | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) | Rabih Alameddine | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2024 | James | Percival Everett | Rising Star | 5 |
| 2023 | Blackouts | Justin Torres | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2022 | The Rabbit Hutch | Tess Gunty | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2021 | Hell of a Book | Jason Mott | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2020 | Interior Chinatown | Charles Yu | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2019 | Trust Exercise | Susan Choi | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2018 | The Friend | Sigrid Nunez | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 2017 | Sing, Unburied, Sing | Jesmyn Ward | Rising Star | 3 |
| 2016 | The Underground Railroad | Colson Whitehead | All-Time Canon | 5 |
| 2013 | The Good Lord Bird | James McBride | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2012 | The Round House | Louise Erdrich | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2011 | Salvage the Bones | Jesmyn Ward | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 2010 | Lord of Misrule | Jaimy Gordon | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2009 | Let the Great World Spin | Colum McCann | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2008 | Shadow Country | Peter Matthiessen | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2007 | Tree of Smoke | Denis Johnson | Acclaimed | 3 |
| 2006 | The Echo Maker | Richard Powers | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 2005 | Europe Central | William T. Vollmann | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2004 | The News from Paraguay | Lily Tuck | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2003 | The Great Fire | Shirley Hazzard | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 2002 | Three Junes | Julia Glass | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 2001 | The Corrections | Jonathan Franzen | Essential | 6 |
| 2000 | In America | Susan Sontag | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1999 | Waiting | Ha Jin | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 1998 | Charming Billy | Alice McDermott | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1997 | Cold Mountain | Charles Frazier | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1995 | Sabbath's Theater | Philip Roth | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 1994 | A Frolic of His Own | William Gaddis | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1993 | The Shipping News | E. Annie Proulx | Acclaimed | 3 |
| 1992 | All the Pretty Horses | Cormac McCarthy | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1991 | Mating | Norman Rush | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1990 | Middle Passage | Charles Johnson | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1989 | Spartina | John Casey | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1988 | Paris Trout | Pete Dexter | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1987 | Paco's Story | Larry Heinemann | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1986 | World's Fair | E. L. Doctorow | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1985 | White Noise | Don DeLillo | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 1984 | Victory Over Japan | Ellen Gilchrist | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1983 | The Color Purple | Alice Walker | Essential | 5 |
| 1982 | Rabbit Is Rich | John Updike | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 1981 | Plains Song | Wright Morris | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1980 | Sophie's Choice | William Styron | Acclaimed | 3 |
| 1979 | Going After Cacciato | Tim O'Brien | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1978 | Blood Tie | Mary Lee Settle | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1977 | The Spectator Bird | Wallace Stegner | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1976 | J R | William Gaddis | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1975 | Dog Soldiers | Robert Stone | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 1975 | The Hair of Harold Roux | Thomas Williams | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1974 | Gravity's Rainbow | Thomas Pynchon | Acclaimed | 3 |
| 1973 | Augustus | John Williams | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1973 | Chimera | John Barth | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1971 | Mr. Sammler's Planet | Saul Bellow | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1970 | them | Joyce Carol Oates | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1969 | Steps | Jerzy Kosiński | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1968 | The Eighth Day | Thornton Wilder | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1967 | The Fixer | Bernard Malamud | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 1965 | Herzog | Saul Bellow | Acclaimed | 3 |
| 1964 | The Centaur | John Updike | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1963 | Morte d'Urban | J. F. Powers | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1962 | The Moviegoer | Walker Percy | Acclaimed | 3 |
| 1961 | The Waters of Kronos | Conrad Richter | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1960 | Goodbye, Columbus | Philip Roth | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1958 | The Wapshot Chronicle | John Cheever | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 1957 | The Field of Vision | Wright Morris | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1956 | Ten North Frederick | John O'Hara | Acclaimed | 1 |
| 1955 | A Fable | William Faulkner | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 1954 | The Adventures of Augie March | Saul Bellow | Acclaimed | 4 |
| 1953 | Invisible Man | Ralph Ellison | Essential | 6 |
| 1952 | From Here to Eternity | James Jones | Acclaimed | 2 |
| 1950 | The Man with the Golden Arm | Nelson Algren | Acclaimed | 1 |
Lists used on this page
- The 100 best novels of all time, The Guardian (2026). Original list
- The 100 best novels written in English, The Guardian / Observer (2015). Original list
- The 100 greatest novels of all time, The Observer (2003). Original list
- The 100 best books of the 21st century, The Guardian (2019). Original list
- 100 novels that shaped our world, BBC Arts (2019). Original list
- 100 novels everyone should read, The Telegraph (2009). Original list
- All-Time 100 Novels, Time (2005). Original list
- 100 Best Novels (board's list), Modern Library (1998). Original list
- The 100 best books of the 21st century, The New York Times (2024). Original list
- Bokklubben World Library, Norwegian Book Clubs (2002). Original list
- 100 books of the century, Le Monde (1999). Original list
- Booker Prize (winners and shortlists), Booker Prize Foundation (1969-). Original list
- Women's Prize for Fiction (winners and shortlists), Women's Prize Trust (1996-). Original list
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (winners and finalists), Columbia University (1918-). Original list
- British Book Awards: Fiction Book of the Year (winners and shortlists), The Bookseller (1990-). Original list
- National Book Award for Fiction (winners and finalists), National Book Foundation (1950-). Original list
- The Big Read top 100, BBC (2003). Original list
- Readers' top 100 novels, The Guardian (2026). Original list
- The Great American Read, PBS (2018). Original list
- Goodreads Choice Awards: Fiction and Historical Fiction winners, Goodreads (2009-). Original list
- Waterstones Book of the Year (winners and shortlists), Waterstones (2012-). Original list
- 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, Amazon.co.uk (2014). Original list
- Oprah's Book Club picks, Oprah's Book Club (1996-). Original list