The winners of the 2021 National Book Award in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature and Young People's Literature were announced on November 17th at the virtual 72nd National Book Awards Ceremony. Two lifetime achievement awards also were presented as part of the evening’s ceremony: Nancy Pearl received the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, and Karen Tei Yamashita was recognized with the Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Established in 1950, the National Book Award is an American literary prize given to writers by writers and administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization. More information about the National Book Awards can be found here.
 

2021 Winners

Fiction

• HELL OF A BOOK by Jason Mott (Dutton)

Nonfiction

• ALL THAT SHE CARRIED: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, by Tiya Miles (Random House)

Poetry

• FLOATERS by Martín Espada (W. W. Norton & Company)

Translated Literature

• WINTER IN SOKCHO by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins (Open Letter)

Young People’s Literature

• LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB by Malinda Lo (Dutton Books for Young Readers)
   

2021 Shortlists

Fiction

• CLOUD CUCKOO LAND by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)
• MATRIX by Lauren Groff (Riverhead Books)
• ZORRIE by Laird Hunt (Bloomsbury Publishing)
• THE PROPHETS by Robert Jones, Jr. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• HELL OF A BOOK by Jason Mott (Dutton)

Nonfiction

• A LITTLE DEVIL IN AMERICA: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, by Hanif Abdurraqib (Random House)
• RUNNING OUT: In Search of Water on the High Plains, by Lucas Bessire (Princeton University Press)
• TASTES LIKE WAR: A Memoir, by Grace M. Cho (Feminist Press at the City University of New York)
• COVERED WITH NIGHT: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America, by Nicole Eustace (Liveright)
• ALL THAT SHE CARRIED: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, by Tiya Miles (Random House)

Poetry

• WHAT NOISE AGAINST THE CANE by Desiree C. Bailey (Yale University Press)
• FLOATERS by Martín Espada (W. W. Norton & Company)
• SHO by Douglas Kearney (Wave Books)
• A THOUSAND TIMES YOU LOSE YOUR TREASURE by Hoa Nguyen (Wave Books)
• THE SUNFLOWER CAST A SPELL TO SAVE US FROM THE VOID by Jackie Wang (Nightboat Books)

Translated Literature

• WINTER IN SOKCHO by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins (Open Letter)
• PEACH BLOSSOM PARADISE by Ge Fei, translated from the Chinese by Canaan Morse (New York Review Books)
• THE TWILIGHT ZONE by Nona Fernández, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer (Graywolf Press)
• WHEN WE CEASE TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD by Benjamín Labatut, translated from the Spanish by Adrian Nathan West (New York Review Books)
• PLANET OF CLAY by Samar Yazbek, translated from the Arabic by Leri Price (World Editions)

Young People’s Literature

• THE LEGEND OF AUNTIE PO by Shing Yin Khor (Kokila)
• LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB by Malinda Lo (Dutton Books for Young Readers)
• TOO BRIGHT TO SEE by Kyle Lukoff (Dial Books for Young Readers)
• REVOLUTION IN OUR TIME: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People, by Kekla Magoon (Candlewick Press)
• ME (MOTH) by Amber McBride (Feiwel and Friends)
   

2021 Longlists

Fiction

• CLOUD CUCKOO LAND by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)
• MATRIX by Lauren Groff (Riverhead Books)
• ABUNDANCE by Jakob Guanzon (Graywolf Press)
• ZORRIE by Laird Hunt (Bloomsbury Publishing)
• THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DU BOIS by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (Harper)
• THE PROPHETS by Robert Jones, Jr. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
• INTIMACIES by Katie Kitamura (Riverhead Books)
• THE SOUVENIR MUSEUM: Stories by Elizabeth McCracken (Ecco)
• HELL OF A BOOK by Jason Mott (Dutton)
• BEWILDERMENT by Richard Powers (W. W. Norton & Company)

Nonfiction

• A LITTLE DEVIL IN AMERICA: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, by Hanif Abdurraqib (Random House)
• RUNNING OUT: In Search of Water on the High Plains, by Lucas Bessire (Princeton University Press)
• TASTES LIKE WAR: A Memoir, by Grace M. Cho (Feminist Press at the City University of New York)
• THE GROUND BREAKING: An American City and Its Search for Justice, by Scott Ellsworth (Dutton)
• COVERED WITH NIGHT: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America, by Nicole Eustace (Liveright)
• THE SUM OF US: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee (One World)
• THE FREE WORLD: Art and Thought in the Cold War, by Louis Menand (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• ALL THAT SHE CARRIED: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, by Tiya Miles (Random House)
• HOW THE WORD IS PASSED: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, by Clint Smith (Little, Brown and Company)
• THE BLACK CIVIL WAR SOLDIER: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship, by Deborah Willis (New York University Press)

Poetry

• THE WILD FOX OF YEMEN by Threa Almontaser (Graywolf Press)
• GHOST LETTERS by Baba Badji (Parlor Press)
• WHAT NOISE AGAINST THE CANE by Desiree C. Bailey (Yale University Press)
• MASTER SUFFERING by CM Burroughs (Tupelo Press)
• THE VAULT by Andrés Cerpa (Alice James Books)
• FLOATERS by Martín Espada (W. W. Norton & Company)
• TWICE ALIVE by Forrest Gander (New Directions)
• SHO by Douglas Kearney (Wave Books)
• A THOUSAND TIMES YOU LOSE YOUR TREASURE by Hoa Nguyen (Wave Books)
• THE SUNFLOWER CAST A SPELL TO SAVE US FROM THE VOID by Jackie Wang (Nightboat Books)

Translated Literature

• WAITING FOE THE WATERS TO RISE by Maryse Condé,translated from the French by Richard Philcox (World Editions)
• WINTER IN SOKCHO by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins (Open Letter)
• PEACH BLOSSOM PARADISE by Ge Fei, translated from the Chinese by Canaan Morse (New York Review Books)
• THE TWILIGHT ZONE by Nona Fernández, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer (Graywolf Press)
• ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES AND OTHER STORIES by Bo-Young Kim, translated from the Korean by Joungmin Lee Comfort and Sora Kim-Russell (Kaya Press)
• WHEN WE CEASE TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD by Benjamín Labatut, translated from the Spanish by Adrian Nathan West (New York Review Books)
• RABBIT ISLAND: Stories by Elvira Navarro, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney (Two Lines Press)
• AN INVENTORY OF LOSSES by Judith Schalansky, translated from the German by Jackie Smith (New Directions)
• IN MEMORY OF MEMORY by Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale (New Directions)
• PLANET OF CLAY by Samar Yazbek, translated from the Arabic by Leri Price (World Editions)

Young People’s Literature

• HOME IS NOT A COUNTRY by Safia Elhillo (Make Me a World)
• THE LEGEND OF AUNTIE PO by Shing Yin Khor (Kokila)
• A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB by Malinda Lo (Dutton Books for Young Readers)
• TOO BRIGHT TO SEE by Kyle Lukoff (Dial Books for Young Readers)
• REVOLUTION IN OUR TIME: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People, by Kekla Magoon (Candlewick Press)
• ME (MOTH) by Amber McBride (Feiwel and Friends)
• THE MIRROR SEASON by Anna-Marie McLemore (Feiwel and Friends)
• UNSPEAKABLE: The Tulsa Race Massacre, by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrations by Floyd Cooper (Carolrhoda Books)
• FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement, by Paula Yoo (Norton Young Readers)