Award Winning Books of 2021!
Hi Readers! It is December, the most glorious time of the year. Because it is the end of the year, it is the perfect time to write about all the award-winning books of this year! I did a similar post last year, and I am sure I will be doing it every year! Not only does it help me in picking up the next book, but it is also easier to open this post where there is a collation of all the noteworthy books. Otherwise, we all will always go on Google to search the same thing multiple times. I know I would have continue doing that if not for this little helpful article containing all the award-winning books including Nobel Prize for Literature, Pulitzer Prize, Booker Prize, Women’s Prize for Fiction, JCB Prize for Literature, British Book Awards, Walter Scott Prize, National Book Award & lastly Goodreads Choice Awards! What fun!! I will be doing this for fiction and nonfiction wherever possible. I have also included the Shortlist wherever applicable. I hope you get your next 5 star read from this list!
~~THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE~~
The Nobel Prize for Literature goes to Abdulrazak Gurnah! He is a Tanzanian-born novelist who lives in the United Kingdom. He was awarded the Nobel “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”. I looked up a few books he has written, which you can read.
Paradise
Gravel Heart
Admiring Science
Desertion
Memory of Departure
By the Sea
~~THE PULITZER PRIZE~~
The Pulitzer Prize is the book award which holds the most importance to me because I usually love Pulitzer prize winning books, or even the ones shortlisted for this most prestigious book award! The last 2 years, Colson Whitehead had won the Prize for The Underground Railroad & The Nickel Boys, both of which were excellently written. From the longlist, I have quite a few books on my TBR which I will read soon.
WINNER for FICTION:
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdich
FINALISTS:
A Registry of my Passage Upon the Earth by Daniel Mason
Telephone by Percival Everett
WINNER for BIOGRAPHY:
The Dead are Rising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne, Tamara Payne
FINALISTS:
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark
Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and her World by Amy Stanley
WINNER for POETRY:
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz
FINALISTS:
A Treatise on Stars by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
In the Lateness of the World by Caroline Forché
WINNER for GENERAL FICTION:
Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino
FINALISTS:
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane
~~THE BOOKER PRIZE~~
Even though the Booker Prize is one of the most popular book awards, I am not really a fan of these. Unlike the Pulitzer Prize, the winners and shortlists for this prize never really sit well with me. I rarely like those books, but I am just one person. And, luckily, I loved reading this year’s winner & the other books are on my TBR which also look quite promising! So, here are the winners & shortlisted books!
WINNER:
The Promise by Damon Galgut
SHORTLIST:
A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam
The Promise by Damon Galgut
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood (I read this one and really liked it!)
The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
LONGLIST:
The Promise by Damon Galgut
A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam
The Promise by Damon Galgut
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Second Place by Rachel Cusk
The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
An Island by Karen Jennings
A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson
China Room by Sunjeev Sahota
Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford
~~WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION~~
Women’s Prize for Fiction is another book award which I absolutely love! And I completely loathe any person who demeans this marvelous award. I read the winner of this year & it would be an understatement to say that I loved the book! Check out the winner & other books!
WINNER:
Piranesi by Susanna Clark
SHORTLIST:
Piranesi by Susanna Clark
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
LONGLIST:
Piranesi by Susanna Clark
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Luster by Raven Leilani
Consent by Annabel Lyon
Nothing but Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Summer by Ali Smith
Because of You by Dawn French
Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig
Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
~~JCB PRIZE FOR LITERATURE~~
Here we have the only Indian Book Award. Every year there is a big hype for the JCB Prize on Bookstagram. In its fourth year in 2021, it was everywhere, which is why I was really excited to know about the winner.
WINNER:
Delhi: A Soliloquy by M. Mukundan
SHORTLIST:
Delhi: A Soliloquy by M. Mukundan
Gods And Ends by Lindsay Pereira
Anti-Clock by V.J. James
Name Place Animal Thing by Daribha Lyndem
The Plague Upon Us by Shabir Ahmad Mir
LONGLIST:
Delhi: A Soliloquy by M. Mukundan
Gods And Ends by Lindsay Pereira
Anti-Clock by V.J. James
Name Place Animal Thing by Daribha Lyndem
The Plague Upon Us by Shabir Ahmad Mir
A Death in Shonogachhi by Rijula Das
What We Know About Her by Krupa Ge
The Man Who Learnt to Fly but Could Not Land by Thachom Poyil Rajeevan
The Dharma Forest by Keerthik Sasidharan
Asoca by Irwin Allan Sealy
~~NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS~~
I had not added the National Book Award in last year’s list, so it’s an addition for you all! Given that I am now more active on bookstagram, I get to hear about many book awards which I wasn’t aware about earlier. This is one of them. And, I am glad I saw this one, because with the National Book Award, there are many categories you can browse through and also check out the finalists in each!
WINNER in FICTION:
Hell of a Book by Jason Mott
FINALISTS:
Hell of a Book by Jason Mott
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Matrix by Lauren Groff
Zorrie by Laird Hunt
The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
WINNER in NONFICTION:
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles
FINALISTS:
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib
Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plaines
Tastes like War: A Memoir by Grace M. Cho
Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America
WINNER in POETRY:
Floaters by Martin Espada
FINALISTS:
Floaters by Martin Espada
What Noise Against the Cane by Desiree C. Bailey
Sho by Douglas Kearney
A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure by Hoa Nguyen
The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us from the Void by Jackie Wang
WINNER in TRANSLATED LITERATURE:
Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins
FINALISTS:
Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins
Peach Blossom Paradise by Ge Fei, translated by Canaan Morse
The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernandez, translated by Natasha Wimmer
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut, translated by Adrian Nathan West
Planet of Clay by Samar Yabek, translated by Leri Price
WINNER in YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE:
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
FINALISTS:
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon
Me (Moth) by Amber McBride
~~BRITISH BOOK AWARDS~~
I don’t know about you, but I love British Book Awards! I have always felt that most readers tend to read American novelists, and somehow British novelists are blindsided. I recently read a few books by Brits, and I loved the language, story, characters & just about everything! Check out the winners in various categories!
BOOK OF THE YEAR:
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR:
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
DEBUT BOOK OF THE YEAR:
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
CRIME & THRILLER BOOK OF THE YEAR:
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
NONFICTION LIFESTYLE BOOK OF THE YEAR:
Skincare by Caroline Hirons
NONFICTION NARRATICE BOOK OF THE YEAR:
Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
PAGETURNER BOOK OF THE YEAR:
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
~~THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE~~
The Walter Scott Prize is another favourite of mine! An award specifically dedicated to my favourite genre; Historical Fiction! If you are as much a fan of the genre as I am, then take a look and add all the below books to your TBR today!
WINNER:
The Mirror and The Light by Hilary Mantel
SHORTLIST:
The Mirror and The Light by Hilary Mantel
The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte
A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
LONGLIST:
The Mirror and The Light by Hilary Mantel
The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte
A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
Hinton by Mark Blacklock
The Year Without Summer by Guinevere Glasfurd
Mr. Beethoven by Paul Griffiths
Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah
A Treacherous Country by K.M. Kruimink
Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain
~~GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS~~
I know the winners of the Goodreads Awards are based on what multitudes of people of voted on, but colour me disappointed! None of my favourites won this year. And because they didn’t, here I am giving them the fame they deserve: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy, The Push by Ashley Audrain, The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner, The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles & The Comfort Book by Matt Haig! You all were my choice so thank you so much for giving me so much happiness & content this year. For the real winner, check out the list below!
WINNER for FICTION:
Beautiful World, Where Are You? By Sally Rooney
WINNER for MYSTERY & THRILLER:
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
WINNER for HISTORICAL FICTION:
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
WINNER for FANTASY:
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Mass
WINNER for ROMANCE:
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
WINNER for SCIENCE FICTION:
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
WINNER for HORROR:
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
WINNER for HUMOR:
Broken by Jenny Lawson
WINNER for NONFICTION:
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
WINNER for MEMOIR & AUTOBIOGRAPHY:
Crying in H Mart by Michele Zauner
WINNER for HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY:
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
WINNER for POETRY:
The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country by Amanda Gorman
WINNER for DEBUT NOVEL:
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
WINNER for YOUNG ADULT FICTION:
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
WINNER for YOUNG ADULT FANTASY:
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
So, that is it! Let’s have a round of applause for all the winners & super appreciation for all the shortlists, longlists & finalists! This list certainly adds a lot of books to my TBR, and I can’t wait to read them all! I really hope this article about the award winning books of 2022 was helpful to you! In case I missed any important awards, let me know in the comments below. Happy Reading to you all!!
Until next time,
About The Author
Aishwarya Shenolikar
Hello! I'm Aishwarya, an Introverted bookworm & writer. I have been reviewing books since 6 years on my blog - Mindscape in Words. My favourite genres are Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers, Magical Realism, Poetry, Fantasy & Memoirs. I like the kind of books which evoke emotions on several levels leaving me wrecked, but also incredibly content. I'm dreaming for the world to paint a landscape full of words, more like Mindscape in Words. Hope you enjoy the view.