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National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction

National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), a nonprofit organization of American book reviewers and critics

An annual American literary prize awarded by the National Book Critics Circle to honor the best work of fiction published in English (including works in translation) during the previous year, chosen by a board of professional book critics and editors.

Search through 6,630 awarded or nominated books

2025

  1. We Do Not Part

    Han Kang, translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris

    Won
  2. Audition

    Katie Kitamura

    Shortlisted
  3. On the Calculation of Volume (Book III)

    Solvej Balle with Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell (trans.)

    Shortlisted
  4. The Antidote

    Karen Russell

    Shortlisted
  5. The Wilderness

    Angela Flournoy

    Shortlisted

2024

  1. My Friends

    Hisham Matar

    Won
  2. Beautyland

    Marie-Helene Bertino

    Shortlisted
  3. Godwin

    Joseph O'Neill

    Shortlisted
  4. James

    Percival Everett

    Shortlisted
  5. Us Fools

    Nora Lange

    Shortlisted

2023

  1. I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home

    Lorrie Moore

    Won
  2. Blackouts

    Justin Torres

    Shortlisted
  3. North Woods

    Daniel Mason

    Shortlisted
  4. Tremor

    Teju Cole

    Shortlisted
  5. Vengeance Is Mine

    Marie NDiaye with Jordan Stump (trans.)

    Shortlisted

2022

  1. Bliss Montage

    Ling Ma

    Won
  2. A New Name

    Jon Fosse with Damion Searls (trans.)

    Shortlisted
  3. All the Lovers in the Night

    Mieko Kawakami with Sam Bett and David Boyd (trans.)

    Shortlisted
  4. Dr. No

    Percival Everett

    Shortlisted
  5. The Furrows

    Namwali Serpell

    Shortlisted

2021

  1. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

    Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

    Won
  2. Burntcoat

    Sarah Hall

    Shortlisted
  3. Harlem Shuffle

    Colson Whitehead

    Shortlisted
  4. Second Place

    Rachel Cusk

    Shortlisted
  5. The Netanyahus

    Joshua Cohen

    Shortlisted

2020

  1. Hamnet

    Maggie O'Farrell

    Won
  2. How to Pronounce Knife

    Souvankham Thammavongsa

    Shortlisted
  3. If I Had Two Wings

    Randall Kenan

    Shortlisted
  4. Inside Story

    Martin Amis

    Shortlisted
  5. Memorial

    Bryan Washington

    Shortlisted

2019

  1. Everything Inside

    Edwidge Danticat

    Won
  2. Feast Your Eyes

    Myla Goldberg

    Shortlisted
  3. Lost Children Archive

    Valeria Luiselli

    Shortlisted
  4. The Nickel Boys

    Colson Whitehead

    Shortlisted
  5. The Topeka School

    Ben Lerner

    Shortlisted

2018

  1. Milkman

    Anna Burns

    Won
  2. Slave Old Man

    Patrick Chamoiseau with Linda Coverdale (trans.)

    Shortlisted
  3. The House of Broken Angels

    Luis Alberto Urrea

    Shortlisted
  4. The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

    Denis Johnson

    Shortlisted
  5. The Mars Room

    Rachel Kushner

    Shortlisted

2017

  1. Improvement

    Joan Silber

    Won
  2. Exit West

    Mohsin Hamid

    Shortlisted
  3. Sing, Unburied, Sing

    Jesmyn Ward

    Shortlisted
  4. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

    Arundhati Roy

    Shortlisted
  5. The Ninth Hour

    Alice McDermott

    Shortlisted

2016

  1. LaRose

    Louise Erdrich

    Won
  2. Commonwealth

    Ann Patchett

    Shortlisted
  3. Imagine Me Gone

    Adam Haslett

    Shortlisted
  4. Moonglow: A Novel

    Michael Chabon

    Shortlisted
  5. Swing Time

    Zadie Smith

    Shortlisted

2015

  1. The Sellout

    Paul Beatty

    Won
  2. Eileen

    Ottessa Moshfegh

    Shortlisted
  3. Fates and Furies

    Lauren Groff

    Shortlisted
  4. The Story of My Teeth

    Valeria Luiselli

    Shortlisted
  5. The Tsar of Love and Techno

    Anthony Marra

    Shortlisted

2014

  1. Lila

    Marilynne Robinson

    Won
  2. A Brief History of Seven Killings

    Marlon James

    Shortlisted
  3. An Unnecessary Woman

    Rabih Alameddine

    Shortlisted
  4. Euphoria

    Lily King

    Shortlisted
  5. On Such a Full Sea

    Chang-Rae Lee

    Shortlisted

2013

  1. Americanah

    Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    Won
  2. A Tale for the Time Being

    Ruth Ozeki

    Shortlisted
  3. Someone

    Alice McDermott

    Shortlisted
  4. The Goldfinch

    Donna Tartt

    Shortlisted
  5. The Infatuations

    Javier Marías with Margaret Jull Costa (trans.)

    Shortlisted

2012

  1. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

    Ben Fountain

    Won
  2. HHhH

    Laurent Binet with Sam Taylor (trans.)

    Shortlisted
  3. Magnificence

    Lydia Millet

    Shortlisted
  4. NW

    Zadie Smith

    Shortlisted
  5. The Orphan Master's Son

    Adam Johnson

    Shortlisted

2011

  1. Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories

    Edith Pearlman

    Won
  2. Open City

    Teju Cole

    Shortlisted
  3. Stone Arabia

    Dana Spiotta

    Shortlisted
  4. The Marriage Plot

    Jeffrey Eugenides

    Shortlisted
  5. The Stranger's Child

    Alan Hollinghurst

    Shortlisted

2010

  1. A Visit from the Goon Squad

    Jennifer Egan

    Won
  2. Comedy in a Minor Key

    Hans Keilson

    Shortlisted
  3. Freedom

    Jonathan Franzen

    Shortlisted
  4. Skippy Dies

    Paul Murray

    Shortlisted
  5. To the End of the Land

    David Grossman

    Shortlisted

2009

  1. Wolf Hall

    Hilary Mantel

    Won
  2. American Salvage

    Bonnie Jo Campbell

    Shortlisted
  3. Blame

    Michelle Huneven

    Shortlisted
  4. Lark and Termite

    Jayne Anne Phillips

    Shortlisted
  5. The Book of Night Women

    Marlon James

    Shortlisted

2008

  1. 2666

    Roberto Bolaño with Natasha Wimmer (trans.)

    Won
  2. Home

    Marilynne Robinson

    Shortlisted
  3. Olive Kitteridge

    Elizabeth Strout

    Shortlisted
  4. The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart

    M. Glenn Taylor

    Shortlisted
  5. The Lazarus Project

    Aleksandar Hemon

    Shortlisted

2007

  1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

    Junot Díaz

    Won
  2. In the Country of Men

    Hisham Matar

    Shortlisted
  3. Sacred Games

    Vikram Chandra

    Shortlisted
  4. The Gravedigger's Daughter

    Joyce Carol Oates

    Shortlisted
  5. The Shadow Catcher

    Marianne Wiggins

    Shortlisted

2006

  1. The Inheritance of Loss

    Kiran Desai

    Won

2005

  1. The March

    E. L. Doctorow

    Won

2004

  1. Gilead

    Marilynne Robinson

    Won

2003

  1. The Known World

    Edward P. Jones

    Won

2002

  1. Atonement

    Ian McEwan

    Won

2001

  1. Austerlitz

    W.G. Sebald with Anthea Bell (trans.)

    Won

2000

  1. Being Dead

    Jim Crace

    Won
  2. A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You

    Amy Bloom

    Shortlisted
  3. Assorted Fire Events

    David Means

    Shortlisted
  4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

    Michael Chabon

    Shortlisted
  5. White Teeth

    Zadie Smith

    Shortlisted

1999

  1. Motherless Brooklyn

    Jonathan Lethem

    Won
  2. Disgrace

    J. M. Coetzee

    Shortlisted
  3. Midnight Champagne

    A. Manette Ansay

    Shortlisted
  4. The Night Inspector

    Frederick Busch

    Shortlisted
  5. Wonders of the Invisible World

    David Gates

    Shortlisted

1998

  1. The Love of a Good Woman

    Alice Munro

    Won
  2. Birds of America

    Lorrie Moore

    Shortlisted
  3. No Lease on Life

    Lynne Tillman

    Shortlisted
  4. Preston Falls

    David Gates

    Shortlisted
  5. The Hours

    Michael Cunningham

    Shortlisted

1997

  1. The Blue Flower

    Penelope Fitzgerald

    Won
  2. American Pastoral

    Philip Roth

    Shortlisted
  3. Cold Mountain

    Charles Frazier

    Shortlisted
  4. Dreams of My Russian Summers

    Andrei Makine

    Shortlisted
  5. Underworld

    Don DeLillo

    Shortlisted

1996

  1. Women in Their Beds

    Gina Berriault

    Won
  2. About Schmidt

    Louis Begley

    Shortlisted
  3. Dancing After Hours

    Andre Dubus

    Shortlisted
  4. From Bondage

    Henry Roth

    Shortlisted
  5. The Autobiography of My Mother

    Jamaica Kincaid

    Shortlisted

1995

  1. Mrs. Ted Bliss

    Stanley Elkin

    Won
  2. Galatea 2.2

    Richard Powers

    Shortlisted
  3. Independence Day

    Richard Ford

    Shortlisted
  4. Moo

    Jane Smiley

    Shortlisted
  5. The Tent of Orange Mist

    Paul West

    Shortlisted

1994

  1. The Stone Diaries

    Carol Shields

    Won
  2. A Frolic of His Own

    William Gaddis

    Shortlisted
  3. And All Our Wounds Forgiven

    Julius Lester

    Shortlisted
  4. In the Time of the Butterflies

    Julia Alvarez

    Shortlisted
  5. The Prince of West End Avenue

    Alan Isler

    Shortlisted

1993

  1. A Lesson Before Dying

    Ernest J. Gaines

    Won
  2. Feather Crowns

    Bobbie Ann Mason

    Shortlisted
  3. The Jade Cabinet

    Rikki Ducornet

    Shortlisted
  4. The Shipping News

    E. Annie Proulx

    Shortlisted
  5. Vindication

    Frances Sherwood

    Shortlisted

1992

  1. All the Pretty Horses

    Cormac McCarthy

    Won
  2. Black Water

    Joyce Carol Oates

    Shortlisted
  3. Clockers

    Richard Price

    Shortlisted
  4. Let the Dead Bury Their Dead

    Randall Kenan

    Shortlisted
  5. Outerbridge Reach

    Robert Stone

    Shortlisted

1991

  1. A Thousand Acres

    Jane Smiley

    Won
  2. Mating

    Norman Rush

    Shortlisted
  3. The Gold Bug Variations

    Richard Powers

    Shortlisted
  4. Typical American

    Gish Jen

    Shortlisted
  5. Wartime Lies

    Louis Begley

    Shortlisted

1990

  1. Rabbit at Rest

    John Updike

    Won
  2. Collected Stories

    Wallace Stegner

    Shortlisted
  3. Family Pictures

    Sue Miller

    Shortlisted
  4. Middle Passage

    Charles Johnson

    Shortlisted
  5. The Things They Carried

    Tim O’Brien

    Shortlisted

1989

  1. Billy Bathgate

    E. L. Doctorow

    Won
  2. Ordinary Love & Good Will

    Jane Smiley

    Shortlisted
  3. Spartina

    John Casey

    Shortlisted
  4. The Joy Luck Club

    Amy Tan

    Shortlisted
  5. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

    Oscar Hijuelos

    Shortlisted

1988

  1. The Middleman and Other Stories

    Bharati Mukherjee

    Won
  2. Libra

    Don DeLillo

    Shortlisted
  3. Paris Trout

    Pete Dexter

    Shortlisted
  4. Wheat That Springeth Green

    J. F. Powers

    Shortlisted
  5. Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories

    Raymond Carver

    Shortlisted

1987

  1. The Counterlife

    Philip Roth

    Won
  2. Beloved

    Toni Morrison

    Shortlisted
  3. Crossing to Safety

    Wallace Stegner

    Shortlisted
  4. The Age of Grief

    Jane Smiley

    Shortlisted
  5. The Bonfire of the Vanities

    Tom Wolfe

    Shortlisted

1986

  1. Kate Vaiden

    Reynolds Price

    Won
  2. A Summons to Memphis

    Peter Taylor

    Shortlisted
  3. Roger's Version

    John Updike

    Shortlisted
  4. The Beet Queen

    Louise Erdrich

    Shortlisted
  5. The Moon Pinnacle

    Thomas Williams

    Shortlisted

1985

  1. The Accidental Tourist

    Anne Tyler

    Won
  2. Lonesome Dove

    Larry McMurtry

    Shortlisted
  3. The Old Forest and Other Stories

    Peter Taylor

    Shortlisted
  4. Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance

    Richard Powers

    Shortlisted
  5. White Noise

    Don DeLillo

    Shortlisted

1984

  1. Love Medicine

    Louise Erdrich

    Won
  2. Family Dancing

    David Leavitt

    Shortlisted
  3. Foreign Affairs

    Alison Lurie

    Shortlisted
  4. Machine Dreams

    Jayne Anne Phillips

    Shortlisted
  5. Stones for Ibarra

    Harriet Doerr

    Shortlisted

1983

  1. Ironweed

    William Kennedy

    Won
  2. Cathedral

    Raymond Carver

    Shortlisted
  3. During the Reign of the Queen of Persia

    Joan Chase

    Shortlisted
  4. Magnetic Field (s)

    Ron Loewinsohn

    Shortlisted
  5. The Anatomy Lesson

    Philip Roth

    Shortlisted

1982

  1. George Mills

    Stanley Elkin

    Won
  2. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

    Anne Tyler

    Shortlisted
  3. Levitation: Five Fictions

    Cynthia Ozick

    Shortlisted
  4. Shiloh and Other Stories

    Bobbie Ann Mason

    Shortlisted
  5. The Color Purple

    Alice Walker

    Shortlisted

1981

  1. Rabbit Is Rich

    John Updike

    Won
  2. A Flag for Sunrise

    Robert Stone

    Shortlisted
  3. Riddley Walker

    Russell Hoban

    Shortlisted
  4. Sixty Stories

    Donald Barthelme

    Shortlisted
  5. The Men's Club

    Leonard Michaels

    Shortlisted

1980

  1. The Transit of Venus

    Shirley Hazzard

    Won
  2. Loon Lake

    E. L. Doctorow

    Shortlisted
  3. Morgan's Passing

    Anne Tyler

    Shortlisted
  4. So Long, See You Tomorrow

    William Maxwell

    Shortlisted
  5. The Second Coming

    Walker Percy

    Shortlisted

1979

  1. The Year of the French

    Thomas Flanagan

    Won
  2. King of the Jews: A Novel of the Holocaust

    Leslie Epstein

    Shortlisted
  3. Sleepless Nights

    Elizabeth Hardwick

    Shortlisted
  4. Sophie's Choice

    William Styron

    Shortlisted
  5. The Executioner's Song: A True Life Novel

    Norman Mailer

    Shortlisted
  6. The Ghost Writer

    Philip Roth

    Shortlisted

1978

  1. The Stories of John Cheever

    John Cheever

    Won
  2. Final Payments

    Mary Gordon

    Shortlisted
  3. The Coup

    John Updike

    Shortlisted
  4. The World According to Garp

    John Irving

    Shortlisted
  5. Wrinkles

    Charles Simmons

    Shortlisted

1977

  1. Song of Solomon

    Toni Morrison

    Won
  2. A Book of Common Prayer

    Joan Didion

    Shortlisted
  3. Falconer

    John Cheever

    Shortlisted
  4. The Professor of Desire

    Philip Roth

    Shortlisted
  5. Union Dues

    John Sayles

    Shortlisted

1976

  1. October Light

    John Gardner

    Won

  2. Bloodshed and Three Novellas

    Cynthia Ozick

    Shortlisted
  3. Details of a Sunset and Other Stories

    Vladimir Nabokov

    Shortlisted
  4. Speedboat

    Renata Adler

    Shortlisted
  5. The Easter Parade

    Richard Yates

    Shortlisted

1975

  1. Ragtime

    E. L. Doctorow

    Won