The John Leonard Prize for Best First Book, established in 2013, is an annual literary award presented by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) for authors' first books in any genre. Unlike other NBCC awards, recipients are selected by members, not the board.
The prize is named after John Leonard, a renowned literary critic and NBCC co-founder.
Recipients +John Leonard Prize winners and honorsYearAuthorTitleResult2013Winner2014RedeploymentWinner2015Night at the FiestasWinner2016HomegoingWinnerFinalistHere Comes the Sun Grief Is the Thing with Feathers 2017Her Body and Other PartiesWinnerWhat It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky FinalistMarlena What We Lose Whereas My Absolute Darling 2018There ThereWinner2019WinnerFleishman Is in TroubleFinalistLong Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls: A Memoir Disappearing EarthTrick Mirror: Reflections on Self-DelusionLot: Stories 2020LusterWinnerFinalistHow Much of These Hills Is GoldMill Town: Reckoning with What RemainsReal LifeShuggie Bain2021AfterpartiesWinnerDetransition, BabyFinalistMy MonticelloPhilomath: PoemsPop Song: Adventures in Art & IntimacySomebody's Daughter: A Memoir2022Night of the Living RezWinnerFinalistIf I Survive YouBrother AliveAncestor Trouble2023Waiting to Be Arrested at NightWinnerBlack PastoralFinalist James Young2024Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir WinnerMiss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden GeniusFinalistGreat Expectations When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990sWard Toward By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land2025Baldwin: A Love StoryWinnerCrownFinalist (trans. by Polly Barton) HunchbackMood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect PlaylistSalvage
References
External links
Official website