A Guide to the 2022 National Book Award Winners and Finalists

Across all five categories of the National Book Award finalists, there are only five writers and one translator who have been nominated before—the other twenty writers are first-time finalists, and six are finalists with their debut work.

"I didn't think I would ever finish this book, publish this book, and then was sure no one would read the book. Moral: I have a bad track record when it comes to knowing what will happen with this book," tweeted Sabaa Tahir, whose work All My Rage is nominated in the young people's literature category.

The winners were announced on November 16, 2022 in New York City; Imani Perry and Tess Gunty took home awards in the nonfiction and fiction categories, respectively. Gunty, who won for her debut novel The Rabbit Hutch, said in her acceptance speech, "Attention is the most sacred resource we have on this planet, and books are the last place where we spend this resource freely."

In nonfiction, Perry won for her book, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation. "I write for my people. I write because we children of the lash-scarred, rope-choked, bullet-ridden, desecrated are still here, standing," she said in her acceptance award. "I write for the sinned-against and the sanctified. I write for the ones who clean the toilets and till the soil and walk the picket lines. For the hungry, the caged, the disregarded, the holding on — I write for you. I write because I love sentences, and I love freedom more."

There were two lifetime achievement awards granted: to author Art Spiegelman, most famous for his work Maus, and librarian Tracie D. Hall, the first Black woman to serve as the executive director of the American Library Association. "Please, please stand against this effort to limit access to reading," Hall said in her acceptance speech. "Remember: Free people read freely."

Here, a guide to the 25 National Book Award finalists, and winners: