National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography
National Book Critics Circle
Annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle honoring the best work of memoir or autobiography published in English, as part of its broader suite of genre-specific book awards.
Latest winner · 2025
- Mother Mary Comes to Me · Arundhati Roy
Next · expected February 2027
Shortlist announced Full award calendar
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2025
- Won
- A Truce That Is Not PeaceShortlisted
Miriam Toews
- Memorial DaysShortlisted
Geraldine Brooks
- Shortlisted
- ShatteredShortlisted
Hanif Kureishi
2024
- Won
- Little SeedShortlisted
Wei Tchou
- Mother Archive: A Dominican Family MemoirShortlisted
Erika Morillo
- The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural HistoryShortlisted
Manjula Martin
- The Minotaur at Calle LanzaShortlisted
Zito Madu
2023
- Won
- I Would Meet You Anywhere: A MemoirShortlisted
Susan Kiyo Ito
- Shortlisted
- Shortlisted
- Story of a Poem: A MemoirShortlisted
Matthew Zapruder
2022
- Won
- Shortlisted
- Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, ManhattanShortlisted
Won 1 more award
- Linea Nigra: An Essay on Pregnancy and EarthquakesShortlisted
Jazmina Barrera
- Shortlisted
2021
- Won
- A Farewell To Gabo And Mercedes: A Son's Memoir of Gabriel García Márquez and Mercedes BarchaShortlisted
Rodrigo Garcia
- Shortlisted
- A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black PerformanceShortlisted
Won 1 more award · Nominated for 1 more award
- Concepcion: An Immigrant Family's FortunesShortlisted
Albert Samaha
2020
- Won
- Golem GirlShortlisted
Riva Lehrer
- Shortlisted
- The Dragons, The Giant, The WomenShortlisted
Wayétu Moore
- Shortlisted
2019
- Won
- Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect PredatorsShortlisted
Ronan Farrow
Nominated for 1 more award
- Shortlisted
- Good Talk: A Memoir in ConversationsShortlisted
Mira Jacob
- Sounds Like Titanic: A MemoirShortlisted
Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman
2018
- Won
- All You Can Ever Know: A MemoirShortlisted
Nicole Chung
- Shortlisted
- Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting OverShortlisted
Nell Painter
- The Day That Went Missing: A Family's StoryShortlisted
Richard Beard
- What Drowns the Flowers in Your Mouth: A Memoir of BrotherhoodShortlisted
Rigoberto Gonzalez
2017
- Won
- Admissions: Life as a Brain SurgeonShortlisted
Henry Marsh
- Hunger: A Memoir of (My) BodyShortlisted
Roxane Gay
- Shortlisted
- The Girl From the Metropol Hotel: Growing Up in Communist RussiaShortlisted
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
2016
- Won
- In GratitudeShortlisted
Jenny Diski
- Shortlisted
- The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in BetweenShortlisted
Won 1 more award · Nominated for 1 more award
- The Song Poet: A Memoir of My FatherShortlisted
Kao Kalia Yang
2015
- Won
- BettyvilleShortlisted
George Hodgman
- Shortlisted
- Shortlisted
- Shortlisted
2014
- Won
- Little FailureShortlisted
Gary Shteyngart
- The Other SideShortlisted
Lacy M. Johnson
- Shortlisted
- There Was and There Was NotShortlisted
Meline Toumani
2013
- Won
- Men We ReapedShortlisted
Jesmyn Ward
- The Book of My LivesShortlisted
Aleksandar Hemon
- Shortlisted
- WaveShortlisted
Sonali Deraniyagala
2012
- Won
- House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle EastShortlisted
Nominated for 1 more award
- In the House of the InterpreterShortlisted
Ngugi wa Thiong’o
- My PoetsShortlisted
Maureen N. McLane
- The Distance Between UsShortlisted
Reyna Grande
2011
- Won
- Harlem is Nowhere: A Journey to the Mecca of Black AmericaShortlisted
Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts
- Shortlisted
- One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of HealingShortlisted
Diane Ackerman
Nominated for 1 more award
- Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the WarShortlisted
Deb Olin Unferth
2010
- Won
- Shortlisted
- Hiroshima in the MorningShortlisted
Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
- Shortlisted
- Shortlisted
- The Autobiography of an ExecutionShortlisted
David Dow
2009
- Won
- Shortlisted
- Shortlisted
- Shortlisted
- Shortlisted
2008
- Won
- The Bishop's DaughterShortlisted
Honor Moore
- The Eaves of HeavenShortlisted
Andrew X. Pham
- The House on Sugar BeachShortlisted
Helene Cooper
- Why I Came WestShortlisted
Rick Bass
2007
- Won
- Shortlisted
- Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption and Death in Putin's RussiaShortlisted
Anna Politkovskaya
- The Journals of Joyce Carol Oates, 1973–1982Shortlisted
Joyce Carol Oates
- Writing in an Age of SilenceShortlisted
Sara Paretsky
2006
- Won
2001
- Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. JohnsonWon
Won 1 more award · Nominated for 1 more award
2000
- Won
1991
- Won
1990
- Means of Ascent: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. IIWon
Won 1 more award · Nominated for 1 more award
1989
- A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin RooseveltWon
Won 2 more awards · Nominated for 1 more award
1988
- Won
1983
- Won
Frequently asked questions
- Who won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography in 2025?
- “Mother Mary Comes to Me” by Arundhati Roy won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography in 2025.
- Who are the most recent National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography winners?
- 2025: “Mother Mary Comes to Me” by Arundhati Roy; 2024: “Patriot: A Memoir” by Alexei Navalny (trans. Arch Tait with Stephen Dalziel); 2023: “How to Say Babylon: A Memoir” by Safiya Sinclair; 2022: “Stay True” by Hua Hsu; 2021: “Gay Bar: Why We Went Out” by Jeremy Atherton Lin.