Christchurch City Libraries lists literary prize winners and links to catalogue searches, but we may not hold copies of all titles mentioned.
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), founded in 1974, consists of nearly 600 active book critics, authors, literary bloggers, book publishing personnel, and student members. The NBCC Awards honour the best literature published in the United States in a number of categories.
Prior to 2005, there existed a single award for Biography / Autobiography. In 2005 it was replaced by two awards: the Biography Award and the Autobiography / Memoir Award.
See the other National Book Critics Circle Awards category winners and all the other literary prize winners we list.
2023
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Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage Jonny Steinberg Winner
- King: A Life Jonathan Eig
- The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of the Bondwoman’s Narrative Gregg Hecimovich
- Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous with American History Yunte Huang
- Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disruptor Rachel Shteir
2022
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G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century Beverly Gage Winner
- The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family Kerri K. Greenidge
- Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century Jennifer Homans
- Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman
- Up from the Depths: Herman Melville, Lewis Mumford, and Rediscovery in Dark Times Aaron Sachs
2021
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All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler Rebecca Donner Winner
- Clairvoyant of the Small: The Life of Robert Walser Susan Bernofsky
- Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America Keisha N. Blain
- Mike Nichols: A Life Mark Harris
- Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York Alexander Nemerov
2020
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Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World Amy Stanley Winner
- The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes Zachary D. Carter
- Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath Heather Clark
- The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X Les Payne, Tamara Payne
- The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960s Maggie Doherty
2019
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The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth by Josh Levin Winner
- Gods of the Upper Air: How A Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century by Charles King
- L.E.L.: The Lost Life and Scandalous Death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the Celebrated “Female Byron” by Lucasta Miller
- Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century by George Packer
- A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
2018
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Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous Christopher Bonanos Winner
- Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret Craig Brown
- Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History Yunte Huang
- The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century Mark Lamster
- The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created Jane Leavy
2017
- Caroline Fraser Winner
- The Invention of Angela Carter: A Biography Edmund Gordon
- The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek Howard Markel
- Gorbachev: His Life and Times William Taubman
- Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times Kenneth Whyte
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder2016
- Ruth Franklin Winner
- Moscow Nights: The Van Cliburn Story Nigel Cliff
- Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary Joe Jackson
- Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White Michael Tisserand
- Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey Frances Wilson
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life2015
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Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley Charlotte Gordon Winner
- Fortune’s Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth Terry Alford
- Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America T.J. Stiles
- Stalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva Rosemary Sullivan
- Dietrich and Riefenstahl: Hollywood, Berlin, and a Century in Two Lives Karin Wieland, translated by Shelley Frisch
2014
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Tennessee Williams: mad pilgrimage of the flesh John Lahr Winner
- William Wells Brown: an African American life Ezra Greenspan
- Rebel yell: the violence, passion and redemption of Stonewall Jackson S. C. Gwynne
- "Literchoor is my beat": a life of James Laughlin, publisher of New Directions Ian S. MacNiven
- The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: a biography Miriam Pawek
2013
- Jonathan Swift: his life and his world Leo Damrosch Winner
- Lawrence In Arabia: war, deceit, imperial folly and the making of the modern Middle East Scott Anderson
- Bach: music in the castle of heaven John Eliot Gardiner
- Holding on upside down: the life and work of Marianne Moore Linda Leavell
- Birth certificate: the story of Danilo Kis Mark Thompson
2012
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The passage of power: the years of Lyndon Johnson Robert A. Caro Winner
- All we know: three lives Lisa Cohen
- Portrait of a novel: Henry James and the making of an American masterpiece Michael Gorra
- The Ambassador from Venus: a biography Lisa Jarnot and Robert Duncan
- The Black Count: glory, revolution, betrayal, and the real Count of Monte Cristo Tom Reiss
2011
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George F. Kennan: an American life John Lewis Gaddis
2010
- How to live: or, a life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer Sarah Bakewell
2009
- Cheever: a life Blake Bailey
2008
The world is what it is: the authorized biography of V.S. Naipaul2007
2006
- James Tiptree, Jr.: the double life of Alice B. Sheldon Julie Phillips
2005
- American Prometheus: the triumph and tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Before 2005, there was a single award for Biography / Autobiography.
2004
- De Kooning: an American master Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan
2003
- Khrushchev: the man and his era William Taubman
2002
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Charles Darwin: the power of place vol. 2 Janet Browne
2001
2000
- Hirohito and the making of modern Japan Herbert P. Bix
1999
- The Hairstons: an American family in black and white Henry Wiencek
1998
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A beautiful mind: a biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, 1994 Sylvia Nasar
1997
1996
- Angela's ashes Frank McCourt
1995
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Savage art: a biography of Jim Thompson Robert Polito
1994
- Shot in the heart Mikal Gilmore
1993
- Genet Edmund White
1992
- Writing dangerously: Mary McCarthy and her world Carol Brightman
1991
- Patrimony: a true story Philip Roth
1990
- Means of ascent: the years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. II Robert A. Caro
