List of Winners of The National Book Award - 1935 To 1941

1935 To 1941

The first National Book Awards were presented in May 1936 at the annual convention of the American Booksellers Association to four 1935 books selected by its members. Subsequently the awards were announced mid-February to March 1 and presented at the convention. For 1937 books there were ballots from 319 stores, about three times so many as for 1935. There had been 600 ABA members in 1936.

The "Most Distinguished" Nonfiction, Biography, and Novel (for 1935 and 1936) were reduced to two and termed "Favorite" Nonfiction and Fiction beginning 1937. Master of ceremonies Clifton Fadiman declined to consider the Pulitzer Prizes (not yet announced in February 1938) as potential ratifications. "Unlike the Pulitzer Prize committee, the booksellers merely vote for their favorite books. They do not say it is the best book or the one that will elevate the standard of manhood or womanhood. Twenty years from now we can decide which are the masterpieces. This year we can only decide which books we enjoyed reading the most."

The Bookseller Discovery officially recognized "outstanding merit which failed to receive adequate sales and recognition" (quoted by NYT) Finall that award stood alone for 1941 and the New York Times frankly called it "a sort of consolation prize that the booksellers hope will draw attention to his work".

Authors and publishers outside the United States were eligible and there were several winners by non-U.S. authors (at least Lofts, Curie, de Saint-Exupéry, Du Maurier, and Llewellyn). The Bookseller Discovery and the general awards for fiction and non-fiction were conferred six times in seven years, the Most Original Book five times, and the biography award in the first two years only.

Dates are years of publication.

Bookseller Discovery

1935 —

1936, Norah Lofts, (short stories), I Met a Gypsy

1937, Lawrence Watkin, (novel), On Borrowed Time

1938, David Fairchild, (nonfiction), The World Was My Garden: Travels of a Plant Explorer

1939, Elgin Groseclose, (novel), Ararat

1940, Perry Burgess, Who Walk Alone (1942 subtitle, Life of a Leper)

1941, George Sessions Perry, (novel), Hold Autumn in Your Hand

Non-Fiction

1935, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, North to the Orient

1936, Van Wyck Brooks, The Flowering of New England: 1815-1865

1937, Ève Curie, Madame Curie (biog. Marie Curie)

1938, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Listen! The Wind

1939, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars

1940, Hans Zinsser, As I Remember Him: The Biography of R.S.

1941 —

Biography (both winners were autobiographies)

1935, Vincent Sheean, Personal History

1936, Victor Heiser, An American Doctor's Odyssey: Adventures in Forty-Five Countries

Novel

1935, Rachel Field, Time Out of Mind

1936, Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind

Fiction

1937, A. J. Cronin, The Citadel

1938, Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca

1939, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

1940, Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley

1941 —

Most Original Book

1935, Charles G. Finney, (novel), The Circus of Dr. Lao

1936, Della T. Lutes, (autobiography & cookbook), The Country Kitchen

1937, Carl Crow, (nonfiction), Four Hundred Million Customers: The Experiences—Some Happy, Some Sad, of an American Living in China, and What They Taught Him

1938, Margaret Halsey, (humor, satire), With Malice Toward Some

1939, Dalton Trumbo, (novel), Johnny Got His Gun

1940 —

1941 —