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 Winners & 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

  • 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

  • Joanna Biggs
  • Sarah Chihaya
  • Rhoda Feng
  • Lauren Michele Jackson
  • Jeremy Lybarger

    Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award

  • Sandra Cisneros

    Toni Morrison Achievement Award

  • Third World Press

    NBCC Service Award

  • Lori Lynn Turner