We’ve started cataloging recent SVWC award winners and writers who have topped the “best of” lists in both 2024 and 2025. Though this list is far from complete—it would be much too long if we included every single award for every writer—it gives you a sense of the caliber of talent we have coming this year (and every year)!

From our 2025 Conference

Colum McCann – Twist due out 3.25.25

(previous awards)
National Book Award, 2009
Guggenheim Fellowship, 2010
International Dublin Literary Award, 2011
American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2011, 2014
Longlisted, Man Booker Prize, 2020
National Jewish Book Award, 2020

Ocean Vuong – The Emperor of Gladness: A Novel due out 5.14.25

(previous awards with exception of first two)

A TIME Magazine Most Anticipated Book, 2025
Goodread’s Most Anticipated Books, 2025
Longlisted, National Book Award, 2019
MacArthur Fellowship, 2019
Lambda Literary Award, 2020
Dylan Thomas Prize, 2020
Long-listed, Andrew Carnegie Medal, 2020
Long-listed, National Book Award for Fiction, 2020
Short-listed, Griffin Poetry Prize, 2023

Liz Moore – The God of the Woods

The New York Times Notable Book of the Year, 2024
A New York Times Best Thriller, 2024
A New York Times Best Crime Novel, 2024
New York Public Library Top Ten Pick, 2024
NPR Books We Love, 2024
A TIME Magazine 100 Must-Read Book, 2024
Amazon Top Twenty Book of the Year, 2024

Yael van der Wouden – The Safekeep

Short-listed, The Booker Prize, 2024
The New York Times Book Review’s Top Ten Books of the Year, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Best of 2024: Fiction
Washington Post’s Fifty Notable Works of Fiction, 2024
Los Angeles Times Fifteen Best Books of 2024
TIME Magazine 100 Must-Read Books, 2024
Longlisted, Aspen Words Literary Prize, 2025
Amazon Best Book of the Year (Debut Fiction), 2024

Ruth Reichl – The Paris Novel

Saveur Magazine, Best Narrative Food Book, 2024
Food & Wine Favorite Food Books, 2024

Doris Kearns Goodwin – An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s

#1 New York Times bestseller
Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction, 2024
Amazon Best Book of the Year (History), 2024
Amazon Best Book of the Year (Biography & Memoir), 2024
Audible Top Twenty Audiobooks, 2024

Wright Thompson – The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi

TIME Magazine Ten Best Nonfiction Books, 2024
TIME Magazine 100 Must-Read Books, 2024
Amazon Best Book of the Year (Biography & Memoir), 2024\
Kirkus Reviews Best of 2024: Nonfiction
Washington Post’s Fifty Notable Works of Nonfiction, 2024
Smithsonian Magazine’s Ten Best History Books, 2024
Boston Globe’s 75 Best Books, 2024
Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction, 2024

Max Boot – Reagan: His Life and Legend

Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction, 2024
The New York Times Book Review’s Top Ten Books of the Year, 2024
The New Yorker Best Books, 2024

Safiya Sinclair – How to Say Babylon

Winner, National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography, 2024
New York Times Notable Book, 2023
Washington Post’s Ten Best Books of the Year, 2023
TIME Magazine Ten best nonfiction Books, 2023

Dan Jones – Henry V: The Astonishing triumph of England’s Greatest Warrior King

Amazon Best Book of the Year (Biography & Memoir), 2024
Audible (UK) Top Twenty Audiobooks, 2024

Theodore Schwartz – Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery

An Economist Best Book of 2024

Griffin Dunne – The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir

Amazon Best Book of the Year (Biography & Memoir), 2024
TIME Magazine 100 Must-Read Books, 2024
NPR’s Books We Love, 2024
TIME Magazine’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books, 2024
People’s best Celebrity Memoirs, 2024

Sloane Crosley – Grief is for People

Amazon Best Book of the Year (Biography & Memoir), 2024
Boston Globe’s 75 Best Books, 2024
Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction, 2024
NPR’s Books We Love, 2024
Time Magazine’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books, 2024
LitHub’s #1 Best Reviewed Nonfiction Book, 2024

Jonathan Blitzer – Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America and the Making of a Crisis

The New York Times Book Review’s Top Ten Books of the Year, 2024
Long-listed, Carnegie Medal for Excellence, 2024
Long-listed, Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, 2024
Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction, 2024
The New Yorker Best Books, 2024
Amazon Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction), 2024
New York Public Library Top Ten Pick, 2024

From our 2024 Conference

Margaret Atwood

Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic, 2024
SVWC Writer in the World, 2024

Judy Blume

National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, 2024
Eleanor Roosevelt Lifetime Achievement Award for Bravery in Literature, 2024

Kaveh Akbar – Martyr!: A Novel

Guggenheim Fellowship, 2024
Finalist, Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, 2025
Finalist,  for the National Book Award, 2024
The New York Times Book Review’s Top Ten Books of the Year, 2024
A TIME Magazine Must Read Book, 2024
The Atlantic’s Ten Best Books of 2024
Los Angeles Times Fifteen Best Books of 2024
Slate’s Ten Best Books of 2024
The Washington Post’s Fifty Notable Works of Fiction, 2024
NPR Books We Love, 2024
Finalist, Waterstone’s Debut Fiction Prize, 2024

Vinson Cunningham – Great Expectations

Longlist, National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
Slate’s Ten Best Books of 2024
The New York Times Notable Book of the Year, 2024
Washington Post’s Fifty Notable Works of Fiction, 2024
Los Angeles Times Fifteen Best Books of 2024
NPR Books We Love, 2024
Boston Globe’s 75 Best Books, 2024

Tiya Miles – Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free PeopleThe Washington

Post’s Fifty Notable Works of Fiction, 2024
Smithsonian Magazine’s Ten Best History Books, 2024

Jonathan Eig – King: A LIfe

Winner, Pulitzer Prize for Biography, 2024
New York Historical Society’s Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize, 2024
Winner of the 2024 Audie Award for Best Nonfiction Narrator
Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, 2023
The New Yorker Best Books, 2023
Washington Post’s Ten Best Books of the Year, 2023
Smithsonian Magazine’s Ten Best History Books, 2023

John Valliant – Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, 2024
The New York Times Book Review’s Top Ten Books of the Year, 2023
The New Yorker Best Books, 2023
Finalist, National Book Award for Nonfiction, 2023
Finalist, PEN/Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, 2023

Kristin Hannah – The Women

#1 New York Times bestseller
Amazon Top Twenty Book of the Year, 2024
A TIME Magazine 100 Must-Read Book, 2024
NPR Books We Love, 2024
Goodreads Award for Best Historical Fiction, 2024
Audible Top Twenty Audiobooks, 2024

James Shapiro – The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy and the Making of a Culture War

Smithsonian Magazine’s Ten Best History Books, 2024
Financial Times Best Books of 2024: Nonfiction