Awards

Cartoon3

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