The National Book Awards have been increasingly dominated by minority authors and books addressing minority subjects over the past decade, leading one New York Times columnist to label the prestigious literary prize a "DEI checklist." In the last 10 years, nine of the 10 fiction awards presented by the National Book Foundation have gone to minority authors, with only one awarded to a white author. The non-fiction category saw an even more pronounced trend, with all 10 awards during the same period presented to minority authors.
New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, in a recent opinion piece, criticized the National Book Foundation, questioning whether the organization prioritizes identifying America's best literature or engages in "bald politicization." Stephens argued that the awards are "no longer national in any meaningful sense," representing at best "the recondite tastes of that fraction of the country."
The trend extends to the finalists as well. For the 2026 awards, nine out of the 10 fiction finalists were minority authors, with subjects covering race and sexual orientation. The non-fiction finalists included works on "queer parenthood" and "the rise of Islamophobia in America." Stephens noted that only one finalist was a Jewish, white, straight male, asserting that in a "sane world, [this] should have no bearing on whether his book deserves to make the longlist."
The National Book Award, established in 1950, is historically one of America's most significant literary honors, with past recipients including renowned authors like Philip Roth, William Faulkner, Joan Didion, and Flannery O’Connor. Until recent decades, the majority of its winners were white males. The recent shift has drawn criticism, mirroring debates surrounding other arts awards that have faced accusations of neglecting minority voices.
Stephens suggested that the National Book Foundation's focus on minority authors and subjects could be seen as a literary "form of reparations," but cautioned that this approach might perpetuate the very problem it aims to address. He quoted a friend stating, "turning the tables isn’t the same thing as achieving justice." Stephens contended that the "bald politicization of the nation’s highest literary prizes is achieving several forms of injustice at once."
He further warned that this practice could be "deforming and hollowing" American literature, potentially leading to a decline in readership and discouraging aspiring writers. "Writers or scholars whose subjects or views don’t fit the preferences of prize givers will pay a price for their intellectual independence," Stephens wrote. "Others, not keen on careers of penury and oblivion, will never become writers or scholars in the first place."
Concluding his critique, Stephens invoked Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451," stating, "You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."