National Book Critics Circle Award
Voted on by around 700 book reviewers. Until 1997, it was only open to US citizens. In 1997, rules were changed to include all authors of the best books published in the United States, regardless of nationality.
2004
Fiction: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Poetry: The School Among the Ruins by Adrienne Rich
2003
Fiction: The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Poetry: Columbarium by Susan Stewart
2002
Fiction: Atonement by Ian McEwan
Poetry: Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest by B.H. Fairchild
2001
Fiction: Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
Poetry: Saving Lives by Albert Goldbarth
2000
Fiction: Being Dead by Jim Crace
Poetry: Carolina Ghost Woods by Judy Jordan
1999
Fiction: Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Poetry: Ordinary Works by Ruth Stone
1998
Fiction: The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro
Poetry: The Bird Catcher by Marie Ponsot
1997
Fiction: The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
Poetry: Black Zodiac by Charles Wright
1996
Fiction: Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault
Poetry: Sun Under Wood by Robert Hass
1995
Fiction: Mrs. Ted Bliss by Stanley Elkin
Poetry: Time and Motion by Matthew
1994
Fiction: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Poetry: Rider by Mark Rudman
1993
Fiction: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
Poetry: My Alexandria by Mark Doty
1992
Fiction: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Poetry: Collected Shorter Poems 1946-1991 by Hayden Carruth
1991
Fiction: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Poetry: Heaven and Earth: A Cosmology by Albert Goldbarth
1990
Fiction: Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
Poetry: Bitter Angel by Amy Gerstler
1989
Fiction: Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow
Poetry: Transparent Gestures by Rodney Jones
1988
Fiction: The Middleman and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee
Poetry: That One Day by Donald Hall
1987
Fiction: The Counterlife by Philip Roth
Poetry: Flesh and Blood by C.K. Williams
1986 Fiction: Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price
Poetry: Wild Gratitude by Edward Hirsch
1985
Fiction: The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
Poetry: The Triumph of Achilles by Louise Gluck
1984
Fiction: Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Poetry: The Dead and the Living by Sharon Olds
1983
Fiction: Ironweed by William Kennedy
Poetry: The Changing Light at Sandover by James Merrill
1982
Fiction: George Mills by Stanley Elkin
Poetry: Antarctic Traveler by Katha Pollitt
1981
Fiction: Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
Poetry: A Coast of Trees by A.R. Ammons
2004
Fiction: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Poetry: The School Among the Ruins by Adrienne Rich
2003
Fiction: The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Poetry: Columbarium by Susan Stewart
2002
Fiction: Atonement by Ian McEwan
Poetry: Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest by B.H. Fairchild
2001
Fiction: Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
Poetry: Saving Lives by Albert Goldbarth
2000
Fiction: Being Dead by Jim Crace
Poetry: Carolina Ghost Woods by Judy Jordan
1999
Fiction: Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Poetry: Ordinary Works by Ruth Stone
1998
Fiction: The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro
Poetry: The Bird Catcher by Marie Ponsot
1997
Fiction: The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
Poetry: Black Zodiac by Charles Wright
1996
Fiction: Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault
Poetry: Sun Under Wood by Robert Hass
1995
Fiction: Mrs. Ted Bliss by Stanley Elkin
Poetry: Time and Motion by Matthew
1994
Fiction: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Poetry: Rider by Mark Rudman
1993
Fiction: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
Poetry: My Alexandria by Mark Doty
1992
Fiction: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Poetry: Collected Shorter Poems 1946-1991 by Hayden Carruth
1991
Fiction: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Poetry: Heaven and Earth: A Cosmology by Albert Goldbarth
1990
Fiction: Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
Poetry: Bitter Angel by Amy Gerstler
1989
Fiction: Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow
Poetry: Transparent Gestures by Rodney Jones
1988
Fiction: The Middleman and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee
Poetry: That One Day by Donald Hall
1987
Fiction: The Counterlife by Philip Roth
Poetry: Flesh and Blood by C.K. Williams
1986 Fiction: Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price
Poetry: Wild Gratitude by Edward Hirsch
1985
Fiction: The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
Poetry: The Triumph of Achilles by Louise Gluck
1984
Fiction: Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Poetry: The Dead and the Living by Sharon Olds
1983
Fiction: Ironweed by William Kennedy
Poetry: The Changing Light at Sandover by James Merrill
1982
Fiction: George Mills by Stanley Elkin
Poetry: Antarctic Traveler by Katha Pollitt
1981
Fiction: Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
Poetry: A Coast of Trees by A.R. Ammons