Awards
Barry Lopez Award, 2024
East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award, 2024
Openbook Prize for work in translation, Taiwan, 2023
F. Scott Fitzgerald Award, 2022
Oprah Book Club, 2021
Booker Prize Finalist, 2021, 2018
National Book Award Longlist, 2021, 2014
Best Books/Best novels of 2021: Barnes and Noble, Boston Globe, Audible, The Independent, KCRW Bookworm, Toronto Globe and Mail, RTE News, PopMatters, Sydney Morning Herald, Maine Edge, Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Mail, Winnipeg Free Press, The Telegraph, Lire, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (and STL Today), Garden and Gun, Duluth News Tribune, Goodreads Top 20, Le Libre, Oprah Daily, The National, Minnesota Public Radio, Global Circulate, Library Journal, Newsweek, WAMC, Benzine Magazine, The Arts Fuse, Patch, Omroep Flevoland, Nederlandse Dagblad, Amazon.com,
Kobo Best eBooks, 2021
Indigo Top Ten Books of the Year, 2021
Hudson Booksellers Book of the Year, 2021
New York Times Notable Book, 2021, 2018, 2009, 2006, 2003, 2000, 1998, 1995, 1991
Aspen Literary Words Prize Longlist, 2021
Book.com.tw Best Book of 2021 (Taiwan)
Amazon Book of the Month Pick, 2021, 2018
Heather’s Pick, Indigo, Canada, 2021
Andrew Carnegie Medal Longlist, 2021, 2018, 2014
Indie Next List, 2021, 2018
Apple Books 20 Best Books of 2021
NPR Best Books/Staff Picks, 2021
New York Times Book Review 25 Best Books of the Last 125 Years, 2021
William Dean Howells Medal, 2020
Premio Gregor von Rezzori (Italy), 2020
Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award
Pulitzer Prize, 2019
Le Prix des Libraires Payot, 2019 (Switzerland)
Waterstones Paperbacks of the Year, 2019
Keiji Literary Award, 2019
PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, 2019
PBS/New York Times “Now Read This” Selection, 2019
Indies Choice Book Award, Adult Fiction finalist, 2019
Winner, Wissensbücher des Jahres, 2019
Lithub 20 Best Novels of the Decade, 2019
PEN/Faulkner Award finalist, 2019
Le Prix des Librairies du Québec Finalist, 2019
Dayton Literary Peace Prize Fiction Runner-up, 2019
Chautauqua Prize Finalist, 2019
Best Books/Best novels of 2018: Kirkus, Amazon, Washington Post Book World, High Plains Reader, TIME Magazine, New York Public Library, Oprah Magazine, Hudson Booksellers, NPR Book Concierge, Library Journal, Booklist, KQED, WBUR, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, The Guardian (UK), Lit Hub, Iowa Public Radio, Fiction Advocate, San Francisco Chronicle, Maine Edge, NPR Morning Edition, The Age (Australia), Seattle Times, Buzzfeed, The Times On Sunday (UK), EcoLit, Open Letters Review, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Counterpunch, Boston Globe, Le Monde(France), Le Devoir (Quebec), Minnesota Public Radio, Scottish Review of Books, Frieze Magazine, Garden and Gun, Real Independent News and Film, BuzzFeed, East Hampton Star, Edmonds Beacon, Big Issue (UK), NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands), The Australian, The Sunday Times (South Africa), La Bibliothèque publique d’information du Centre Pompidou (France), Washington Post, WAMC, the PBS News Hour, and the Reference and User Services Association’s Notable Books Council
Grand Prix de littérature américaine, 2018
Prix Francois Sommer finalist, 2018
PEN/Jean Stein Book Award finalist, 2018
iTunes Best Book Pick, 2018
Prix Maurice-Edgar Coindreau, 2016
Dublin Literary Award Longlist, 2015
Man Booker Longlist, 2014
Northern California Book Award, 2014
California Book Award Silver Medal, 2014
Folio Prize Longlist, 2014
William Dean Howells Medal Finalist, 2014
American Library Association “Library Read,” 2014
Notable/Best Books of 2014: Washington Post Book World, Telegraph (UK), Chicago Tribune, NPR Radio, Houston Chronicle, The Economist, The Gazette (Iowa), AbeBooks, Booklist Editors’ Choice, South China Morning Post, Humo (Belgium), San Francisco Chronicle, Daily Beast, Washigton Independent Review of Books, Phi Betta Kappa, ALA Notable Books
Indies Choice Honor Book, 2014, 2010
Knight Professor of Creative Writing, Stanford, 2013-2014
Stein Visiting Writer, Stanford, 2013, 2010
Amazon Ton Ten Singles, 2012
Hurst Visiting Professor, Washington University, October 2012
Finalist, Arthur C. Clarke Prize (UK), 2011
Best American Short Stories anthology, 2011, 2009
Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2010
Society of Midland Authors Award Finalist, 2010
Pushcart Prize, 2009, 2003
Samuel Fischer Guest Professor, Free University, Berlin, 2009
Notable/Best Books of 2009: Chicago Tribune, Kansas City Star, San Francisco Examiner, Oprah Book Club, King County Library System (WA), Booklist, New York Times, Washington Post Book World, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, American Library Association
Great Lakes Book Award Finalist, 2007
Boston Authors Club 2007 Reading List
Notable/Best Books of 2006, Kansas City Star, The Boston Globe, Christianity Today, Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, New York Magazine, Washington Post Book World, San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald, Kirkus, L.A. Weekly
National Book Award, 2006
Finalist, Pulitzer Prize, 2006
Ambassador Book Award, 2004
W. H. Smith Literary Award, 2004 (Great Britain)
Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award, 2003, 1995, 1991, 1985
Dos Passos Prize For Literature, Longwood University, 2003
Notable/Best Books of 2003: Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Newsday, London Evening Standard, Time Out (London), San Jose Mercury News
Author of the Year, Illinois Association of Teachers of English, 2001
Corrington Award for Literary Excellence, Centenary College, 2001
Elected Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, 2000
Vursell Award, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 2000
Lannan Literary Award, 1999
James Fenimore Cooper Prize, American Society of Historians, 1999
Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1998
Business Week Best Business Books of 1998
Swanlund Professorship, University of Illinois, 1996
Finalist, National Book Award, 1993
Time Magazine Book of the Year, 1991
MacArthur Fellowship, 1989
PEN/Hemingway Special Citation, 1985
Rosenthal Award of American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1985