Fiction · United States
The National Book Award for Fiction
One of the United States' most prestigious literary honours, presented each November by the National Book Foundation. Fiction winners from 2000 onward.
Administered by the National Book Foundation, the National Book Awards have honoured American writing since 1950. The Fiction prize is decided by a panel of writers and other literary figures and announced at a ceremony each November.
The list below covers winners from 2000 to 2025; the Foundation's site holds the full history. Jesmyn Ward is a rare two-time fiction winner, taking the prize in 2011 and 2017.
Winners
- 2000 In America Susan Sontag · more by this author Find on Amazon →
- 2001 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2002 Three Junes Julia Glass Find on Amazon →
- 2003 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard Find on Amazon →
- 2004 The News from Paraguay Lily Tuck Find on Amazon →
- 2005 Europe Central William T. Vollmann
- 2006 The Echo Maker Richard Powers · more by this author
- 2007 Tree of Smoke Denis Johnson · more by this author
- 2008 Shadow Country Peter Matthiessen
- 2009 Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2010 Lord of Misrule Jaimy Gordon
- 2011 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2012 The Round House Louise Erdrich · more by this author
- 2013 The Good Lord Bird James McBride · more by this author
- 2014 Redeployment Phil Klay · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2015 Fortune Smiles Adam Johnson
- 2016 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2017 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward · more by this author
- 2018 The Friend Sigrid Nunez
- 2019 Trust Exercise Susan Choi · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2020 Interior Chinatown Charles Yu · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2021 Hell of a Book Jason Mott
- 2022 The Rabbit Hutch Tess Gunty · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2023 Blackouts Justin Torres · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2024 James Percival Everett · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2025 The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) Rabih Alameddine
The list covers 2000–2025. Years are the year the award was presented.
Winners verified against the prize's official records. For the complete history, see the official The National Book Award for Fiction site.
Common questions
How is the National Book Award for Fiction decided?
A panel of judges — typically writers and other literary figures — selects a longlist of ten, then five finalists, then a single winner, announced at the November ceremony.
Has the same author won the fiction award twice?
Yes — Jesmyn Ward won in 2011 for Salvage the Bones and again in 2017 for Sing, Unburied, Sing, a rare back-to-back-era double in the category.