National Book Critics Circle Awards

The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, consists of nearly 700 active book reviewers, interested in communicating with one another about common concerns. In recent years, the NBCC has made efforts to become a truly national organization by offering forums in locations outside of New York. The centerpiece of NBCC activities is the annual awards for the best book in five categories: fiction, general nonfiction, biography/autobiography, poetry, and criticism.

Award Winners by Year

2004

Fiction: Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

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Nonfiction: The Reformation: A History by Diarmaid MacCulloch (Viking)

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Biography/Autobiography: De Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan (Knopf)

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Poetry: The School Among the Ruins by Adrienne Rich (Norton)

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Criticism: Where You're At: Notes From the Frontline of a Hip-Hop Planet by Patrick Neate (Riverhead)

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2003

Fiction: The Known World by Edward P Jones (Amistad)

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Nonfiction: Sons of Mississippi: A Story of Race and Its Legacy by Paul Hendrickson (Knopf)

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Biography/Autobiography: Khrushchev: The Man and His Era by William Taubman (Norton)

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Poetry: Columbarium by Susan Stewart (University of Chicago)

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Criticism: River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West by Rebecca Solnit (Viking)

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2002

Fiction: Atonement by Ian McEwan (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese)

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Nonfiction: A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power

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Biography/Autobiography: Charles Darwin: The Power of Place, Vol. II by Janet Browne (Knopf)

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Poetry: Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest by B.H. Fairchild (W.W. Norton)

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Criticism: Tests of Time by William H. Gass (Knopf)

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2001

Fiction:
Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald (Random House)
General Nonfiction:
Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper by Nicholson Baker (Random House)
Biography and Autobiography:
Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson by Adam Sisman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Poetry:
Saving Lives by Albert Goldbarth (Ohio State University)
Criticism:
The War Against Clich: Essays and Reviews, 1971-2000 by Martin Amis (Talk Miramax)



2000

Fiction:
Being Dead by Jim Crace
General Nonfiction:
Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover
Biography and Autobiography:
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix
Poetry:
Carolina Ghost Woods by Judy Jordan
Criticism:
Quarrel & Quandary by Cynthia Ozick



1999

Fiction:
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
General Nonfiction:
Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior by Jonathan Weiner
Biography and Autobiography:
The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White by Henry Wiencek
Poetry:
Ordinary Words by Ruth Stone
Criticism:
Selected Non-Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges



1998

Fiction:
The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro
General Nonfiction:
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch
Biography and Autobiography:
A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
Poetry:
The Bird Catcher by Marie Ponsot
Criticism:
Visions of Jazz by Gary Giddins



1997

Fiction:
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
General Nonfiction:
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
Biography and Autobiography:
Ernie Pyle's War by James E. Tobin
Poetry:
Black Zodiac by Charles Wright
Criticism:
Making Waves by Vargas Llosa



1996

Fiction:
Women in their Beds by Gina Berriault
General Nonfiction:
Bad Land by Jonathan Raban
Biography and Autobiography:
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Poetry:
Sun Under Wood by Robert Hass
Criticism:
Finding a Form by William Gass



1995

Fiction:
Mrs. Ted Bliss by Stanley Elkin
General Nonfiction:
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
Biography and Autobiography:
Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson by Robert Polito
Poetry:
Time & Money: New Poems by William Matthews
Criticism:
The Forbidden Best-sellers of Pre-revolutionary France by Robert Darnton