Enrich Your Reading List With 11 Award Winning Books

Ribbon on blue background. 11 Award Winning Books

Lacey Christiansen

๏ต
๏„ณ

February 7, 2026

Enrich Your Reading List With 11 Award Winning Books

This list was inspired by the reading prompt: Read a book that won an award in the Playing Card Reading Challenge (10 of Diamonds). You could also interpret this one as award winning authors (see my list of Women Who Won The Nobel Prize in Literature). Each of the eleven books in this list have won a different award – which have different criteria! Iโ€™ll also link to the awarding site so that you can browse more books that have won that award.

Percival Everett

An enslaved man named Jim flees to avoid being sold away from his family, joining Huck Finn on a dangerous Mississippi River journey. National Book Award winner being developed by Steven Spielberg.

Pulitzer Prize: Recognizes achievements in American literature, journalism, and music.

David Szalay

A collection of intimate moments over the course of decades,ย Fleshย chronicles a man at odds with himselfโ€”estranged from and by the circumstances and demands of a life not entirely under his control and the roles that he is asked to play.

Booker Prize : For the best novel written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.

Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi

2025 International Booker Prize-winning collection “Heart Lamp” portrays Muslim women’s lives in southern India through twelve stories that blend humor with poignant social commentary.

International Booker Prize: For the best novel written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.

Rabih Alameddine

From National Book Award finalist and winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction comes a tragicomic love story set in Lebanon, a modern saga of family, memory, and the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother

National Book Awards: Given by the National Book Foundation for outstanding literary work in America by US citizens.

Adam Higginbotham

This detailed account examines the 1986 Challenger disaster, revealing political decisions, warning signs, and untold stories behind NASA’s tragic space shuttle explosion.

National Book Critics Circle Award: Honors books in fiction, nonfiction, biography, autobiography, poetry, and criticism.

Kali Gross

Open Book Award: To an exceptional book-length work of any literary genre by an author of color.

From an award-winning historian, an alternative model of feminism driven by the legacy of Black women who took justice into their own hands

PEN America Literary Awards: Since 1963, the PEN America Literary Awards have honored outstanding voices in translation, fiction, poetry, science writing, essay, sports writing, biography, childrenโ€™s literature, and drama.ย 

Robert Jackson Bennett

A brilliant yet eccentric detective and her magically-enhanced assistant investigate an impossible murder involving a tree erupting from a body.

Hugo Award: The most prestigious award for science fiction.

John Wiswell

Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she’s fallen in love.

Nebula Awards: For science fiction, awarded by theย Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Gwendolyn Kiste

From Bram Stoker Awardโ€“winning author Gwendolyn Kiste comes an โ€œemotionally devastating, character driven ghost storyโ€ (CrimeReads) about three childhood friends who miraculously survive the night everyone in their suburban hometown turned to ghostsโ€”perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.

Bram Stocker Award: For excellence in horror and dark fantasy, awarded by the Horror Writers Association.

Muriel Leung

Winner of the 2025 Lammy Award for Bisexual Ficition. A dark and tender debut set against a writhing backdrop of postapocalyptic New York City.

Lambda Literary Award : Recognize the best LGBTQIA+ literature.

Charlotte Vassell

WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL โ€ข An electrifying, whip-smart whodunit about the dastardly misbehavior of London’s high societyโ€”where being “in” or “out” can be a life-and-death matter

Edgar Award: An Edgar Award is presented annually by the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) to honor the best works in mystery fiction, non-fiction, film, television, and theater published or produced in the previous year.

Do awards influence your TBR? How much weight does an award carry in your decision to read it? Let me know in the comments!

May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.
Happy Reading!
Lacey Signature

You May Also Like...

Book Review: Not In Love
Book Review: Not In Love

Spoiler-free review of Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood, explores the bookโ€™s design, characters, tropes & emotional themes. Is the hype realโ€”or just good marketing?

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Index