2021 National Book Award Winner Finalists
Read these best book picks from the National Book Foundation.
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NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A renowned historian traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft a ... Read more
Finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for NonfictionWinner of the 2022 Asian/Pacific American Award in LiteratureA TIME and NPR Best Book of the Year in 2021This evocative memoir of food and fa... Read more
Finalist for the National Book AwardAn intimate reckoning with aquifer depletion in America's heartlandThe Ogallala aquifer has nourished life on the American Great Plains for millennia. But less t... Read more
An enthralling story of revolution, idealism, and a savage struggle for utopia by one of China's greatest living novelists.In 1898 reformist intellectuals in China persuaded the young emperor that ... Read more
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A sweeping, genre-bending “masterpiece” (Minneapolis Star Tribune) exploring Black art, music, and culture in all their glory and complexity—fr... Read more
Best Book of the YearNPR • The Washington Post • Boston Globe • TIME • USA Today • Entertainment Weekly • Real Simple • Parade • Buz... Read more
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND STONEWALL BOOK AWARD • From acclaimed author Malinda Lo comes a gripping, tender coming-of-age novel exploring identity, ... Read more
WINNER • 2022 PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY Finalist • National Book Award for Nonfiction Best Books of the Year • TIME, Smithsonian, Boston Globe, Kirkus Reviews The Pulitzer Prize-w... Read more
Winner of the 2021 National Book Award for Poetry From the winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize come masterfully crafted narratives of protest, grief and love. Martín Espada is a poet who "s... Read more
A Newbery Honor Book• Winner of the Stonewall Book Award• A National Book Award Finalist"Agentle, glowing wonder, full of love and understanding."–The New York Times Book ReviewIt's... Read more
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTPart historical fiction, part fable, and 100 percent adventure. Thirteen-year-old Mei reimagines the myths of Paul Bunyan as starring a Chinese heroine while she works... Read more
FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATUREA debut YA novel-in-verse by Amber McBride, Me (Moth) is about a teen girl who is grieving the deaths of her family, and a tee... Read more
Finalist for the 2021 National Book Award (Fiction)"A virtuosic portrait." –New York Times Book Review"A tender, glowing novel." –Anthony Doerr, Guardian, "Best Books of the Year""Pages... Read more
***2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER******THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER***Winner of the 2021 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize Finalist, 2022 Chautauqua Prize Fina... Read more
One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2021Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize and the 2021 National Book Award for Translated LiteratureA fictional examinat... Read more
On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, As... Read more
* Finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature *An engrossing, incantatory novel about the legacy of historical crimes by the author of Space InvadersIt is 1984 in Chile, in the m... Read more
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE 2022 JOYCE CAROL OATES PRIZE FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTIONOne of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2021Named a Best Book of ... Read more
FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE The new novel Planet Of Clay gives a haunting and unflinching look at the horrors of war - the bombing, the starvation, the fear ... Read more
2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST FOR POETRYThe poems in The Sunflower Cast A Spell To Save Us From The Void read like dispatches from the dream world, with Jackie Wang acting as our trusted comrad... Read more
2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER FOR TRANSLATED LITERATUREAs if Marguerite Duras wrote Convenience Store Woman—a beautiful, unexpected novel from a debut French Korean authorIt's winter in Sok... Read more
"In this powerful history, Magoon presents an incisive, in-depth study of the Black Panther Party."– Publishers Weekly (starred review)In this comprehensive, inspiring, and all-too-relevant h... Read more
