National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction explained

The National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, established in 1976,^[1] is an annual American literary award presented by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English."^[2]

Books previously published in English are not eligible, such as re-issues and paperback editions. They do consider "translations, short story and essay collections, self published books, and any titles that fall under the general categories."^[3]

The judges are the volunteer directors of the NBCC who are 24 members serving rotating three-year terms, with eight elected annually by the voting members, namely "professional book review editors and book reviewers."^[4] Winners of the awards are announced each year at the NBCC awards ceremony in conjunction with the yearly membership meeting, which takes place in March.

Recipients

National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction winners and finalists

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
1975		Ragtime	Winner	^[5]
1976		October Light	Winner	^[6]
		Bloodshed and Three Novellas	Finalist
		Details of a Sunset and Other Stories
		Speedboat
		The Easter Parade
1977		Song of Solomon	Winner	^[7]
		A Book of Common Prayer	Finalist
		Falconer
		The Professor of Desire
		Union Dues
1978		The Stories of John Cheever	Winner	^[8]
		Final Payments	Finalist
		The Coup
		The World According to Garp
		Wrinkles
1979		The Year of the French	Winner	^[9]
		King of the Jews: A Novel of the Holocaust	Finalist
		Sleepless Nights
		Sophie's Choice
		The Executioner's Song: A True Life Novel
		The Ghost Writer
1980		The Transit of Venus	Winner	^[10]
		Loon Lake	Finalist
		Morgan's Passing
		So Long, See You Tomorrow
		The Second Coming
1981		Rabbit Is Rich	Winner	^[11]
		A Flag for Sunrise	Finalist
		Riddley Walker
		Sixty Stories
		The Men's Club
1982		George Mills	Winner	^[12]
		Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant	Finalist
		Levitation: Five Fictions
		Shiloh and Other Stories
		The Color Purple
1983		Ironweed	Winner	^[13]
		Cathedral	Finalist
		During the Reign of the Queen of Persia
		Magnetic Field (s)
		The Anatomy Lesson
1984		Love Medicine	Winner	^[14]
		Family Dancing	Finalist
		Foreign Affairs
		Machine Dreams
		Stones for Ibarra
1985		The Accidental Tourist	Winner	^[15]
		Lonesome Dove	Finalist
		The Old Forest and Other Stories
		Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance
		White Noise
1986		Kate Vaiden	Winner	^[16]
		A Summons to Memphis	Finalist
		Roger's Version
		The Beet Queen
		The Moon Pinnacle
1987		The Counterlife	Winner	^[17]
		Beloved	Finalist
		Crossing to Safety
		The Age of Grief
		The Bonfire of the Vanities
1988		The Middleman and Other Stories	Winner	^[18]
		Libra	Finalist
		Paris Trout
		Wheat That Springeth Green
1989		Billy Bathgate	Winner	^[19]
		Ordinary Love & Good Will	Finalist
		Spartina
		The Joy Luck Club
		The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
1990		Rabbit at Rest	Winner	^[20]
		Collected Stories	Finalist
		Family Pictures
		Middle Passage
		The Things They Carried
1991		A Thousand Acres	Winner	^[21]
		Mating	Finalist
		The Gold Bug Variations
		Typical American
		Wartime Lies
1992		All the Pretty Horses	Winner	^[22]
		Black Water	Finalist
		Clockers
		Let the Dead Bury Their Dead
		Outerbridge Reach
1993		A Lesson Before Dying	Winner	^[23]
		Feather Crowns	Finalist
		The Jade Cabinet
		The Shipping News
		Vindication
1994		The Stone Diaries	Winner	^[24]
		A Frolic of His Own	Finalist
		And All Our Wounds Forgiven
		In the Time of the Butterflies
		The Prince of West End Avenue
1995		Mrs. Ted Bliss	Winner	^[25]
		Galatea 2.2	Finalist
		Independence Day
		Moo
		The Tent of Orange Mist
1996		Women in Their Beds	Winner	^[26]
		About Schmidt	Finalist
		Dancing After Hours
		From Bondage
		The Autobiography of My Mother
1997		The Blue Flower	Winner	^[27]
		American Pastoral	Finalist
		Cold Mountain
		Dreams of My Russian Summers
		Underworld
1998		The Love of a Good Woman	Winner	^[28]
		Birds of America	Finalist
		No Lease on Life
		Preston Falls
		The Hours
1999		Motherless Brooklyn	Winner	^[29]
		Disgrace	Finalist
		Midnight Champagne
		The Night Inspector
		The Wonders of the Invisible World
2000		Being Dead	Winner	^[30]
		A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You	Finalist
		Assorted Fire Events
		The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
		White Teeth
2001	with Anthea Bell (trans.)	Austerlitz	Winner	^[31]
2002		Atonement	Winner
2003		The Known World	Winner
2004		Gilead	Winner
2005		The March	Winner
2006		The Inheritance of Loss	Winner
2007		The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao	Winner	^[32] ^[33] ^[34]
		In the Country of Men	Finalist
		The Gravedigger's Daughter
		The Shadow Catcher
		Sacred Games
2008	with Natasha Wimmer (trans.)	2666	Winner	^[35] ^[36]
		The Lazarus Project	Finalist	^[37] ^[38]
		Olive Kitteridge
		The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart
		Home
2009		Wolf Hall	Winner	^[39] ^[40] ^[41]
		American Salvage	Finalist	^[42]
		Lark and Termite
		The Book of Night Women
		Blame
2010		A Visit from the Goon Squad	Winner	^[43] ^[44]
		To The End of the Land	Finalist
		Comedy in a Minor Key
		Freedom
		Skippy Dies
2011		Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories	Winner	^[45] ^[46]
		The Stranger's Child	Finalist	^[47] ^[48] ^[49]
		Stone Arabia
		The Marriage Plot
		Open City
2012		Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk	Winner	^[50] ^[51]
		The Orphan Master's Son	Finalist	^[52] ^[53]
	with Sam Taylor (trans.)	HHhH
		Magnificence
		NW
2013		Americanah	Winner	^[54] ^[55]
		Someone	Finalist	^[56] ^[57]
		The Goldfinch
	with Margaret Jull Costa (trans.)	The Infatuations
		A Tale for the Time Being
2014		Lila	Winner	^[58] ^[59]
		On Such a Full Sea	Finalist	^[60] ^[61]
		Euphoria
		A Brief History of Seven Killings
		An Unnecessary Woman
2015		The Sellout	Winner	^[62]
		The Tsar of Love and Techno	Finalist
		Fates and Furies
		Eileen
		The Story of My Teeth
2016		LaRose	Winner	^[63] ^[64]
		Imagine Me Gone	Finalist	^[65]
		Commonwealth
		Moonglow: A Novel
		Swing Time
2017		Improvement	Winner	^[66] ^[67] ^[68] ^[69]
		The Ninth Hour	Finalist	^[70]
		The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
		Sing, Unburied, Sing
		Exit West
2018		Milkman	Winner	^[71] ^[72] ^[73] ^[74]
		The Largesse of the Sea Maiden	Finalist
		The House of Broken Angels
	with Linda Coverdale (trans.)	Slave Old Man
		The Mars Room
2019		Everything Inside	Winner	^[75] ^[76]
		The Topeka School	Finalist	^[77]
		The Nickel Boys
		Feast Your Eyes
		Lost Children Archive
2020		Hamnet	Winner	^[78] ^[79] ^[80]
		Memorial	Finalist	^[81]
		Inside Story
		If I Had Two Wings
		How to Pronounce Knife
2021		The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois	Winner	^[82]
		Harlem Shuffle	Finalist	^[83] ^[84] ^[85]
		The Netanyahus
		Second Place
		Burntcoat
2022	Ling Ma	Bliss Montage	Winner	^[86]
	Percival Everett	Dr. No	Finalist	^[87]
	Jon Fosse with Damion Searls (trans.)	A New Name
	Mieko Kawakami with Sam Bett and David Boyd (trans.)	All the Lovers in the Night
	Namwali Serpell	The Furrows

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. http://bookcritics.org/images/uploads/vol2no1spring1976.pdf The National Book Critics Circle Journal 2:1, Spring 1976
2. Web site: How We Pick Our Awards. https://web.archive.org/web/20200608004545/https://www.bookcritics.org/awards/selection/. dead. June 8, 2020. 2022-01-24. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
3. Web site: Frequently Asked Questions. 2022-01-24. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
4. Web site: Membership. 2022-01-24. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
5. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1975 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
6. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1976 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
7. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1977 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
8. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1978 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
9. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1979 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
10. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1980 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
11. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1981 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
12. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1982 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
13. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1983 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
14. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
15. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1985 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
16. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1986 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
17. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1987 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
18. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1988 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
19. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1989 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
20. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
21. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
22. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
23. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1993 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
24. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
25. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
26. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1996 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
27. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1997 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
28. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
29. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 1999 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
30. Web site: 2020-03-28 . 2000 National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-20 . Awards Archive . en-US.
31. News: Marshall . Alex . Anthea Bell, Translator of Freud, Kafka and Comics, Dies at 82 . 22 March 2023 . The New York Times . 19 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181021003518/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/19/obituaries/anthea-bell-dead.html . 21 October 2018 . live . [Bell] translated hundreds of books — she did not know the exact number — including W. G. Sebald’s “Austerlitz,” a dreamlike meditation on memory and the Holocaust that won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2012..
32. Web site: 2008-03-07. National Book Critics Circle Announces 2007 Award Winners. 2022-01-25. the American Booksellers Association.
33. Web site: 2008-03-07. 2007 NBCC Winners Announced. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
34. News: Rich. Motoko. 2008-03-07. National Book Critics Circle Awards. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-25. 0362-4331.
35. Web site: 2008. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
36. Web site: Natasha Wimmer: Visiting Faculty . Princeton University . 22 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220617070049/https://spo.princeton.edu/people/natasha-wimmer . 17 June 2022 . Natasha Wimmer has translated six books by Roberto Bolano, including 2666 (winner of the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction) and The Savage Detectives. . live.
37. Web site: Magee. C. Max. 2009-01-25. 2008 National Book Critics Circle Finalists Announced. 2022-01-25. The Millions. en-US.
38. Web site: 2008. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
39. Web site: 2009. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
40. Web site: 2010-03-10. 2009 National Book Critics Circle Awards Ceremony. 2022-01-25. C-SPAN. en-us.
41. Web site: Reid. Calvin. 2010-03-12. Mantel, Holmes, Biss Among 2009 National Book Critics Circle Winners. 2022-01-25. PublishersWeekly.com. en.
42. Web site: 2009. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
43. Web site: 2010. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
44. Web site: Magee. C. Max. 2011-03-11. 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award Winners Announced. 2022-01-25. The Millions. en-US.
45. Web site: 2011. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
46. Web site: The National Book Critics Circle Awards 2011. 2022-01-25. Book Reporter.
47. Web site: 2011. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
48. Web site: The National Book Critics Circle Awards 2011. 2022-01-25. Book Reporter.
49. Web site: Magee. C. Max. 2011-10-12. 2011 National Book Award Finalists Announced. 2022-01-25. The Millions. en-US.
50. Web site: 2012. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
51. Web site: Habash. Gabe. 2013-02-28. 2012 National Book Critics Circle Awards Go to 'Billy Lynn,' Solomon, Caro. 2022-01-25. PublishersWeekly.com. en.
52. Web site: 2013-01-14. National Book Critics Awards Shortlist Announced. 2022-01-25. HuffPost. en.
53. Web site: 2013-01-14. 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalists Announced. 2022-01-25. The Millions. en-US.
54. Web site: 2013. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
55. Web site: Magee. C. Max. 2014-03-13. 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award Winners Announced. 2022-01-25. The Millions. en-US.
56. Web site: 2013. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
57. Web site: 2014-01-14. 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalists Announced. 2022-01-25. The Millions. en-US.
58. Web site: 2014. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
59. Web site: Schaub. Michael. 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award winners announced. 2022-01-24. Los Angeles Times.
60. Web site: 2014. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
61. Web site: Schaub. Michael. 2015-01-19. National Book Critics Circle announces 2014 awards finalists. 2022-01-24. Los Angeles Times.
62. Web site: 2015. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
63. Web site: 2016. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
64. Canfield. David. 2018-01-22. Roxane Gay, Masha Gessen among 2017 National Book Critics Circle finalists. 2022-01-25. Entertainment Weekly. en.
65. Web site: 2016. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
66. Web site: 2017. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
67. Web site: 2018-03-15. 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award Winners. 2022-01-25. The Millions. en-US.
68. Web site: Temple. Emily. 2018-01-22. Here are the Finalists for the 2017 National Book Critics Circle Awards. 2022-01-25. Literary Hub. en-US.
69. Web site: Colyard. K. W.. 2018-03-16. The National Book Critics Circle Award Winners For 2017 Are All Women & You'll Want To Read All Their Books. 2022-01-25. Bustle. en.
70. Web site: 2017. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
71. Web site: 2018. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
72. Web site: Squires. Bethy. 2019-03-14. National Book Critics Circle Winners Include New York's Christopher Bonanos. 2022-01-25. Vulture. en-us.
73. Web site: van Koeverden. Jane. 2019-03-15. Anna Burns, Zadie Smith among 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award winners. 2022-01-24. CBC Books.
74. Web site: 2019-03-15. Congratulations to the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award Winners. 2022-01-25. Book Marks. en-US.
75. Web site: 2019. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
76. Web site: Reiter. Amy. 2020-03-13. National Book Critics Circle Announces 2019 Awards. 2022-01-25. Kirkus Reviews. en.
77. Web site: 2019. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
78. Web site: Beer. Tom. 2021-03-25. National Book Critics Circle Presents Awards. 2022-01-25. Kirkus Reviews. en.
79. Web site: 2020. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
80. Web site: National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction Winners. 2022-01-25. Powell's Books.
81. Web site: 2020. 2022-01-25. National Book Critics Circle. en-US.
82. Web site: Beer . Tom . 2022-03-17 . NBCC Award Winners Revealed at Virtual Ceremony . 2022-03-20 . Kirkus Reviews . en.
83. Web site: Bancroft. Colette. 2022-01-21. National Book Critics Circle announces awards finalists. 2022-01-25. Tampa Bay Times. en.
84. Web site: Beer. Tom. 2022-01-20. Finalists for the 2022 NBCC Awards Are Announced. 2022-01-25. Kirkus Reviews. en.
85. Web site: 2022-01-21. 2021 National Book Critics Circle Awards. 2022-01-25. Locus Online. en-US.
86. Web site: Varno . David . March 23, 2023 . Announcing the 2022 NBCC Award Winners . May 8, 2023 . bookcritics.org.
87. Web site: Labrise . Megan . January 31, 2023 . NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR PUBLISHING YEAR 2022 . May 8, 2023 . bookcritics.org.