Presented annually by The National Book Foundation, these awards recognize books of exceptional merit written by Americans. Through its unique outreach programs featuring National Book Award authors, communities participate in the writing life of the nation by reading and writing together.

2008 Winners

Fiction

Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen

Nonfiction

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed

Poetry

Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems by Mark Doty

Young People's Literature

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

2007 Winners

Fiction

Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson

Nonfiction

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner

Poetry

Time and Materials by Robert Hass

Young People's Literature

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

2006 Winners

Fiction

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

Nonfiction

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan

Young People's Literature

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson

Poetry

Splay Anthem by Nathaniel Mackey

2005 Winners

Fiction

Europe Central by William T. Vollmann

Nonfiction

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Young People's Literature

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

Poetry

Migration: New and Selected Poems by W.S. Merwin

2004 Winners

Fiction

The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck

Nonfiction

Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle Henry Holt

Young People's Literature

Godless by Pete Hautman

Poetry

Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003 by Jean Valentine