Year archive

Best books of 2023

Books selected by independent literary juries and editorial teams in 2023, gathered into one transparent, source-linked reading list. The chronology uses the award year for prizes and list year for editorial recommendations.

Selections: 397
Authors: 395
Lists & prizes: 16

Showing 385–397 of 397

2023Nonfiction

When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era

Donovan X. Ramsey

NPR Books We Love

2023Nonfiction

Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess

Evan Drellich

NPR Books We Love

2023Science fiction & fantasy

Witch King

Martha Wells

NPR Books We Love

2023Nonfiction

Without Children: The Long History of Not Being a Mother

Peggy O'Donnell Heffington

NPR Books We Love

2023Poetry

Witness: Stories

Jamel Brinkley

NPR Books We Love

2023Nonfiction

Women of Myth: From Deer Woman and Mami Wata to Amaterasu and Athena, Your Guide to the Amazing and Diverse Women from World Mythology

Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy, illustrated by Sara Richard

NPR Books We Love

2023Graphic novels

Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons

Kelly Sue DeConnick, illustrated by Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha and Nicola Scott

NPR Books We Love

2023Young readers

Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey

Edel Rodriguez

NPR Books We Love

2023Fiction & literature

Y/N

Esther Yi

NPR Books We Love

2023Fiction & literature

Yellowface

R.F. Kuang

NPR Books We Love

2023Poetry

You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir

Maggie Smith

NPR Books We Love

2023Fiction & literature

You, Again

Kate Goldbeck

NPR Books We Love

2023Nonfiction

Young and Restless: The Girls Who Sparked America’s Revolutions

Mattie Kahn

NPR Books We Love