National Book Award (going back to 1950–winners and honor books)
Note: there is no separate category for memoirs; these are the memoirs that have won in the nonfiction category. The National Book Award is given out each November.
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom – 2019
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates – 2015
Just Kids by Patti Smith – 2010
The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order by Joan Wickersham – 2008
Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat – 2007
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion – 2005
Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire – 2003
American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood by Maria Arana – 2001
A Slant of Sun: One Child’s Courage by Beth Kephart – 1998
An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us by James Carroll –1996
In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War by Tobias Wolff – 1994
Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story by Paul Monette – 1992
One Writer’s Beginnings by Eudora Welty – 1984
Facts of Life by Maureen Howard – 1981
Obituaries by William Saroyan – 1980 (verify auto)
Front and Center by John Houseman – 1980 (verify auto)
I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can by Barbara Gordon – 1980
Lauren Bacall: By Myself by Lauren Bacall – 1980
And I Worked at the Writer’s Trade: Chapters of Literary History by Malcolm Cowley – 1980
Brother to a Dragonfly by Will D. Campbell – 1978
The Diary of Anais Nin, vol. 6 by Anais Nin – 1977
Pentimento by Lillian Hellman – 1974
Images and Shadows by Iris Origo – 1972
An Unfinished Woman by Lillian Hellman – 1970
Stop-Time by Frank Conroy – 1968
In My Father’s Court by Isaac Bashevis Singer – 1967
Starting Out in the Thirties by Alfred Kazin – 1966
Paris Journal, 1944-1965 by Janet Flanner – 1966
My Wilderness by William O. Douglas – 1961
The Years with Ross by James Thurber – 1960
Act One: An Autobiography by Moss Hart – 1960
A Life in the Theatre by Tyrone Guthrie – 1960
Memories of a Catholic Girlhood by Mary McCarthy – 1958
A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazin – 1952
This I Remember by Eleanor Roosevelt – 1950
National Book Critics Circle Award
Note: before 2005, autobiography and biography were a single category. The NBCC award is given out each March for books published the previous year.
Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller – 2019
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom – 2019 John Leonard Prize
Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home by Nora Krug – 2018
Nine Continents: A Memoir in and Out of China by Xiaoluo Guo – 2017
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren – 2016
Negroland by Margo Jefferson – 2015
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast – 2014
Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti by Amy Wilentz – 2013
” a gritty, surprising memoir based on years of reporting from Haiti”
Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton – 2012
The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok – 2011
Half a Life by Darin Strauss – 2010
Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill – 2009
My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar – 2008
Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat – 2007
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn – 2006
Them: A Memoir of Parents by Francine du Plessix Gray – 2005
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt – 1996
Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore – 1994
Patrimony: A True Story by Philip Roth – 1991
Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson – 1983
Pulitzer Prize (going back to 1950)
Note: there is no separate category for memoirs; these are the memoirs that have won in the biography and autobiography category, which is why the list is sparse. The Pulitzer Prize is awarded in April for titles published the previous year.
The Return: Fathers and Sons and the Land In Between by Hisham Matar – 2017
Barbarian Days by William Finnegan – 2016
Personal History by Katherine Graham – 1998
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt – 1997
Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet by Lewis B. Puller – 1992
Growing Up by Russell Baker – 1983
Memoirs by George F. Kennan – 1968
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