The 2023 National Book Awards Winners

"An unnamed narrator is tasked with continuing his dying mentor’s life work in Justin Torres’ Blackouts. The story—inspired by a queer-led research study that was co-opted to pathologize homosexuality—considers the gaps in personal and collective queer history, and how stories have the power to keep people alive."

"Historian Ned Blackhawk recontextualizes five centuries of US, Native, and non-native histories to argue that in the face of extreme violence, land dispossession, and catastrophic epidemics, Indigenous peoples played, and continue to play, an essential role in the development of American democracy. [The book] brings Native American history to the forefront of the narrative, acknowledging Native communities’ agency, strength, and ongoing efforts to reclaim autonomy."

"from unincorporated territory [åmot] is the fifth collection in Craig Santos Perez’s ongoing series dedicated to the history of his homeland and the culture of the indigenous Chamoru people from the western Pacific island of Guåhan (Guam). Through experimental poems, Perez observes and asserts storytelling as an act of resistance—a written form of “åmot,” the Chamoru word for “medicine”—that champions decolonization, demilitarization, and environmental justice."

The National Book Foundation describes this debut novel translated from the Portuguese as "an exploration of queer desire, violence and shame, and the transformative power of the written word."

"In this graphic memoir, readers learn that Dan is a good kid who is used to being made fun of, which is why he’s not particularly eager to go on a class trip to Europe. Much to his surprise, in that same trip, Dan experiences a series of life-changing firsts—his first sip of Fanta, first time listening to French rap, first time getting lost in a foreign country, and first time falling in love."