The National Book Critics Circle Awards

Each year, the National Book Critics Circle presents awards for the finest books published in English in six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism.

In addition, we award two prizes voted on by membership: the John Leonard Prize for the best first book in any genre and the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize, for the best book of any genre translated into English and published in the United States. We also award the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, which recognizes outstanding work by a member of the NBCC, and the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award and Toni Morrison Achievement Award, which are given respectively to individuals and literary institutions for transformative contributions to book culture.

We are proud to announce that this year’s winner of the Toni Morrison Achievement Award is Third World Press. The Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Sandra Cisneros. We also bestow the NBCC Service Award, and this year’s winner is Lori Lynn Turner.

2024 NBCC Award Finalists

  • Fiction

    • Marie-Helene Bertino

      Beautyland Farrar, Straus and Giroux

    • Joseph O'Neill

      Godwin Pantheon

    • Percival Everett

      James Doubleday

    • Hisham Matar

      My Friends Random House

    • Nora Lange

      Us Fools Two Dollar Radio

  • Nonfiction

    • Steve Coll

      The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq Penguin Press

    • Adam Higginbotham

      Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space Avid Reader

    • Tricia Romano

      The Freaks Came Out To Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture PublicAffairs

    • Gretchen Sisson

      Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood St. Martin’s

    • Edwidge Danticat

      We’re Alone Graywolf

  • Biography

    • Jane Kamensky

      Candida Royalle and the Sexual Revolution: A History from Below W. W. Norton

    • Cynthia Carr

      Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar Farrar, Straus and Giroux

    • Jean Strouse

      Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers Farrar, Straus and Giroux

    • Tiya Miles

      Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People Penguin Press

    • Amy Reading

      The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker Mariner

  • Autobiography

    • Manjula Martin

      The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History Pantheon

    • Wei Tchou

      Little Seed Deep Vellum

    • Zito Madu

      The Minotaur at Calle Lanza Belt

    • Erika Morillo

      Mother Archive: A Dominican Family Memoir University of Iowa

    • Alexei Navalny, translation by Arch Tait with Stephen Dalziel

      Patriot: A Memoir Knopf

  • Poetry

    • Jennifer Chang

      An Authentic Life Copper Canyon

    • Oliver Baez Bendorf

      Consider the Rooster Nightboat

    • Dawn Lundy Martin

      Instructions for the Lovers Nightboat

    • Carl Phillips

      Scattered Snows, to the North Farrar, Straus and Giroux

    • Anne Carson

      Wrong Norma New Directions

  • Criticism

    • Legacy Russell

      Black Meme: A History of the Images that Make Us Verso

    • Jesse McCarthy

      The Blue Period: Black Writing in the Early Cold War University of Chicago

    • Claire Bishop

      Disordered Attention: How We Look at Art and Performance Today Verso

    • Marianne Brooker

      Intervals Fitzcarraldo

    • Hanif Abdurraqib

      There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension Random House

  • John Leonard Prize

    The John Leonard Prize for Best First Book is selected by the organization’s membership. The 2024 winner will be announced on March 20, 2024.

    • Rebecca Nagle

      By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight For Justice on Native Land Harper

    • Tessa Hulls

      Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

    • Vinson Cunningham

      Great Expectations Hogarth

    • Carrie Courogen

      Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius St. Martin’s

    • Cindy Juyoung Ok

      Ward Toward Yale University

    • John Ganz

      When The Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s Farrar, Straus and Giroux

  • Gregg Barrios Book in Translation

    • Elias Khoury, translation by Humphrey Davies

      The Children of the Ghetto: Star of the Sea Archipelago

    • László Krasznahorkai, translation by Ottilie Mulzet

      Herscht 07769 New Directions

    • Pedro Lemebel, translation by Gwendolyn Harper

      A Last Supper of Queer Apostles Penguin Classics

    • Rodrigo Fresán, translation by Will Vanderhyden

      Melvill Open Letter

    • Judith Kiros, translation by Kira Josefsson

      O World Poetry

    • Iman Mersal, translation by Robin Moger

      Traces of Enayat Transit

  • Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing

    The Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing is an annual award recognizing outstanding work by a member of the NBCC. The citation is awarded in honor of Nona Balakian, a founding member of the National Book Critics Circle, and comes with a cash prize of $1,000. The winner of the 2024 Balakian Prize is Lauren Michele Jackson. The finalists are listed below.

    • Joanna Biggs

    • Sarah Chihaya

    • Rhoda Feng

    • Lauren Michele Jackson

    • Jeremy Lybarger