Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award

Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award
Awarded for	Authors' debut books
Presented by	Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award is an annual literary prize presented by Barnes & Noble for author's debut books.

It was founded with the aim of recognizing and celebrating exceptional emerging authors who demonstrate outstanding talent and promise in their writing.

Honorees

Early versions of the award were presented as two awards, one for fiction and one for nonfiction, with second and third place recipients. More recent editions present a single award winner with a list of finalists.

1997–2019

Award honorees, 1997–2019

Year	Category	Author	Title	Result	Ref
1995	Fiction	Chang-rae Lee	Native Speaker	Won	[1]
1996	Fiction	Elizabeth McCracken	The Giant's House	Won	[1]
	Nonfiction	Anthony Doerr	The Shell Collector	Won	[1]
1997	Fiction	J. Robert Lennon	The Light of Falling Stars	1	[2]
2001	Fiction	Manil Suri	The Death of Vishnu	1	[3]
2004	Fiction	Monica Ali	Brick Lane	1	[4]
		Zoë Heller	What Was She Thinking?	2	[4]
		Julie Orringer	How to Breath Underwater	3	[4]
	Nonfiction	Jay Griffiths	A Sideways Look at Time	1	[4]
		Christina Lamb	The Sewing Circles of Herat	2	[4]
		Floyd Skloot	In the Shadow of Memory	3	[4]
2005	Fiction	Uzodinma Iweala	Beasts of No Nation	1	[5][6]
		Kitty Fitzgerald	Pigtopia	2	[5][6]
		Catherine Tudish	Tenney's Landing	3	[5][6]
	Nonfiction	Nathaniel Fick	One Bullet Away	1	[5][6]
		Martin Moran	The Tricky Part	2	[5][6]
		Louise Brown	The Dancing Girls of Lahore	3	[5][6]
2006	Fiction	Ben Fountain	Brief Encounters with Che Guevara	1	[7]
		O. Z. Livaneli	Bliss	2	[7]
		Sam Savage	Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife	3	[7]
	Nonfiction	Eric Blehm	The Last Season	1	[7]
		Daniel Mendelsohn	The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million	2	[7]
		Marilyn Johnson	The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries	3	[7]
2007	Fiction	Joshua Ferris	Then We Came to the End	1	[8][9]
		Matthew Eck	The Farther Shore	2	[8]
		Vendela Vida	Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name	3	[8]
	Nonfiction	Kate Braestrup	Here If You Need Me	1	[8][9]
		Elizabeth Samet	Soldier's Heart	2	[8]
		Yaroslav Trofimov	The Siege of Mecca	3	[8]
2008	Fiction	Gin Phillips	The Well and the Mine	1	[10][11]
		Benjamin Taylor	The Book of Getting Even	2	[10][11]
		Zachary Lazar	Sway	3	[10][11]
	Nonfiction	David Sheff	Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction	1	[10][11]
		Eric Weiner	The Geography of Bliss	2	[10][11]
		Nia Wyn	Blue Sky July	3	[10][11]
2009	Fiction	Victor Lodato	Mathilda Savitch	1	[12][13]
		Barbara Johnson	More of this World or Maybe Another	2	[12][13]
		C. E. Morgan	All the Living	3	[12][13]
	Nonfiction	Dave Cullen	Columbine	1	[12][13]
		Toby Lester	The Fourth Part of the World: The Epic Story of History's Greatest Map	2	[12][13]
		Neil White	In the Sanctuary of Outcasts	3	[12][13]
2010	Fiction	Kim Echlin	The Disappeared	1	[14][15]
		Eric Puchner	Model Home	2	[14][15]
		Nic Pizzolatto	Galveston	3	[14][15]
	Nonfiction	David R. Dow	The Autobiography of an Execution	1	[14][15]
		Rebecca Skloot	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks	2	[14][15]
		Siddhartha Mukherjee	The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer	3	[14][15]
2011	Fiction	Scott O'Connor	Untouchable	1	[16][17]
		Alice LaPlante	Turn of Mind	2	[16][17]
		Alan Heathcock	Volt	3	[16][17]
	Nonfiction	Michael Levy	Kosher Chinese	1	[16][17]
		Annia Ciezadlo	Day of Honey	2	[16][17]
		Joshua Cody	[sic]	3	[16][17]
2012	Fiction	Amanda Coplin	The Orchardist	1	[18][19]
		Karen Thompson Walker	The Age of Miracles	2	[18][19]
		Eowyn Ivey	The Snow Child	3	[18][19]
	Nonfiction	Cheryl Strayed	Wild	1	[18][19]
		Katherine Boo	Behind the Beautiful Forevers	2	[18][19]
		Kristen Iversen	Full Body Burden	3	[18][19]
2013	Fiction	Anthony Marra	A Constellation of Vital Phenomena	1	[20]
		NoViolet Bulawayo	We Need New Names	2	[20]
		Rebecca Lee	Bobcat and Other Stories	3	[20]
	Nonfiction	Justin St. Germain	Son of a Gun	1	[20]
		Sonali Deraniyagala	Wave	2	[20]
		Domenica Ruta	With or Without You	3	[20]
2014	Fiction	Evie Wyld	All the Birds, Singing	1	[21][22]
		Molly Antopol	The UnAmericans	2	[21][22]
		Arna Bontemps Hemenway	Elegy on Kinderklavier	3	[21][22]
	Nonfiction	Bryce Andrews	Badluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West	1	[21][22]
		Caitlin Doughty	Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory	2	[21][22]
		Will Harlan	Untamed: The Wildest Woman in America and the Fight for Cumberland Island	3	[21][22]
2015	Fiction	Mia Alvar	In the Country	1	[23][24]
		Angela Flournoy	The Turner House	2	[23][24]
		Sophie McManus	The Unfortunates	3	[23][24]
	Nonfiction	Jill Leovy	Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America	1	[23][24]
		George Hodgman	Bettyville	2	[23][24]
		Amy Ellis Nutt	Becoming Nicole	3	[23][24]
2016	Fiction	Abby Geni	The Lightkeepers	1	[25]
		Yaa Gyasi	Homegoing	2	[25]
		Jung Yun	Shelter	3	[25][26]
	Nonfiction	Matthew Desmond	Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City	1	[25]
		Hope Jahren	Lab Girl	2	[25]
		Patrick Phillips	Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America	3	[25]
2017	Fiction	Patty Yumi Cottrell	Sorry to Disrupt the Peace	1	[27]
		Megan Hunter	The End We Start From	2	[27]
		Lisa Ko	The Leavers	3	[27]
	Nonfiction	Jessica Bruder	Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century	1	[27]
		Leah Carroll	Down City: A Daughter's Story of Love, Memory and Murder	2	[27]
		Michael Twitty	The Cooking Gene: A Journey through African American Culinary History in the Old South	3	[27]
2018	Fiction	Paul Howarth	Only Killers and Thieves	1	[28][29][30]
		Tommy Orange	There There	2	[28][30]
		Fatima Farheen Mirza	A Place for Us	3	[28][30]
	Nonfiction	Kiese Laymon	Heavy	1	[28][29][30]
		Shane Bauer	American Prison	2	[28][30]
		Tara Westover	Educated	3	[28][30]
2019	Fiction	Claire Adam	The Golden Child	Won	[31][32]
		Lydia Fitzpatrick	Lights All Night Long	Shortlisted	[32]
		Ocean Vuong	On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous	Shortlisted	[32]
		Regina Porter	The Travelers	Shortlisted	[32]
	Nonfiction	Damon Young	What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker	Won	[31][32]
		Saeed Jones	How We Fight for Our Lives	Shortlisted	[32]
		Jaquira Díaz	Ordinary Girls	Shortlisted	[32]
		Jia Tolentino	Trick Mirror	Shortlisted	[32]

2022–present

Award honorees, 2022–present

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
2022	Tess Gunty	The Rabbit Hutch	Won	[33]
	Louise Kennedy	Trespasses	Shortlisted	[34]
	Sequoia Nagamatsu	How High We Go in the Dark	Shortlisted
	Morgan Talty	Night of the Living Rez	Shortlisted
	Sarah Thankam Mathews	All This Could Be Different	Shortlisted
	Laura Warrell	Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm	Shortlisted
2023	Amanda Peters	The Berry Pickers	Won	[33]
	Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah	Chain-Gang All-Stars	Shortlisted
	John Manuel Arias	Where There Was Fire	Shortlisted
	Brinda Charry	The East Indian	Shortlisted
	Henry Hoke	Open Throat	Shortlisted
	Alice Winn	In Memoriam	Shortlisted
2024	Essie Chambers	Swift River	Won	[33]
	Kaveh Akbar	Martyr!	Shortlisted
	Tammy Armstrong	Pearly Everlasting	Shortlisted
	Abraham Chang	888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers: A Novel	Shortlisted
	Lottie Hazell	Piglet	Shortlisted
	Elizabeth O'Connor	Whale Fall	Shortlisted

References

1. "Barnes & Noble Names Winners of the 27th Annual Discover Awards". Authorlink. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
2. "J. Robert Lennon Wins 1997 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award". Writers Write. January 21, 1998. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
3. "Book Brahmins: Manil Suri". Shelf Awareness. February 29, 2008. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
4. "Barnes & Noble Announces Finalists for Discover Awards". Poets & Writers. February 3, 2004. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
5. "2005 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards Announced". Independent Publisher. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
6. "B&N Finds Great New Writers". Shelf Awareness . March 2, 2006. Archived from the original on December 6, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
7. "Awards: B&N's Discoveries; Books for a Better Life". Shelf Awareness. March 1, 2007. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
8. "Kate Braestrup and Joshua Ferris Win Barnes & Noble Discover Prize". Publishers Weekly. February 28, 2008. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
9. "Jean Valentine, Junot Díaz Among Finalists for Los Angeles Times Book Prizes". Poets & Writers. March 5, 2008. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
10. "Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards 2008". Bookreporter.com. Archived from the original on August 26, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
11. "Awards: B&N Discover Great New Writers; Florida Book Awards". Shelf Awareness. March 5, 2009. Archived from the original on September 23, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
12. "Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards 2009". Bookreporter.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
13. "Awards: Story Prize, Arabic Fiction, Great New Writers". Shelf Awareness . March 4, 2010. Archived from the original on February 23, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
14. "Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards 2010". Bookreporter.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
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16. "Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards 2011". Bookreporter.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
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18. Habash, Gabe (March 6, 2013). "B&N Discover Awards Go to Cheryl Strayed and Amanda Coplin". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
19. "Awards: B&N Discover; PEN/Faulkner Fiction; Lambda". Shelf Awareness. March 7, 2013. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
20. "Awards: PEN/Faulkner Fiction; B&N New Writers; N.E. Society". Shelf Awareness. March 5, 2014. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
21. Swanson, Clare (March 4, 2015). "Wyld, Andrews Take Home 2014 B&N Discover Awards". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on December 21, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
22. "Awards: Golden Kite; B&N Discover; L.A. Times; Scottish Kids". Shelf Awareness . March 5, 2015. Archived from the original on October 27, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
23. Koonse, Emma (March 3, 2016). "Leovy, Alvar Win 2015 B&N Discover Awards". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
24. "Awards: Scottish Children's Book; B&N Discover". Shelf Awareness. March 3, 2016. Archived from the original on February 24, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
25. "Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards 2016". Bookreporter.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
26. "WNE New Writers Reading Series to Feature Author Jung Yun". Western New England University. October 18, 2023. Archived from the original on October 18, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
27. "Awards: Windham-Campbell, B&N Discover Winners; Stella Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. March 8, 2018. Archived from the original on October 27, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
28. "Barnes & Noble Announces the Winners of the 28th Annual Discover Awards". Barnes & Noble. March 6, 2019. Archived from the original on November 30, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
29. "Barnes & Noble Discover Awards, Daughters of Africa Sequel, and More". Poets & Writers. March 11, 2019. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
30. "July/August 2019 - Recent Winners". Poets & Writers. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
31. Reid, Calvin (January 31, 2020). "Adam, Young Win B&N 2019 Discover New Writers Awards". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
32. Kai, Maiysha (February 3, 2020). "VSB's Damon Young Wins Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers Award for What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker". The Root. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
33. "Barnes & Noble Discover Prize". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
34. "2022 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved January 3, 2025.