🏆the National Book Award for Fiction, last ten winners

2016 to 2025, straight from the National Book Foundation. i did not rearrange anything, promise.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (2016)

Sing, Unburied, Sing - Jesmyn Ward (2017)

her second National Book Award. first was Salvage the Bones back in 2011.

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez (2018)

Trust Exercise - Susan Choi (2019)

splits in half at a structural twist that made half the room mad. (deserved) anyway.

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu (2020)

Hell of a Book by Jason Mott (2021)

The Rabbit Hutch - Tess Gunty (2022)

her debut novel. Vacca Vale, Indiana, is made up, in case you go looking for it.

Blackouts by Justin Torres (2023)

James - Percival Everett (2024)

retells Huckleberry Finn from Jim's pov. usually i'd say the shortlist was better, not this year.

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) - Rabih Alameddine (2025)

his first win, after being a finalist back in 2014 for An Unnecessary Woman.

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