Year-End Lists

National Book Award: Fiction 2022

[see also Nonfiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2013 • Fiction 2013]

Winner

• TBA November 16

Finalists

• TBA October 4

Longlist

• When We Were Sisters
  Fatimah Asghar
• Shutter
  Ramona Emerson
• If I Survive You
  Jonathan Escoffery
• The Rabbit Hutch
  Tess Gunty
• The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories
  Jamil Jan Kochai
• The Birdcatcher
  Gayl Jones
• Nobody Gets Out Alive

  Stories
  Leigh Newman
• Maria, Maria and Other Stories
  Marytza K. Rubio
• All This Could Be Different
  Sarah Thankam Mathews
• The Town of Babylon
  Alejandro Varela

National Book Award: Nonfiction 2022

[see also Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2013 • Fiction 2013]

Winner

• TBA November 16

Finalists

• TBA October 4

Longlist

• Bright Unbearable Reality

  Essays
  Anna Badkhen
• Ted Kennedy

  A Life
  John A. Farrell
• Uncommon Measure

  A Journey Through Music, Performance, and the Science of Time
  Natalie Hodges
• Bad Mexicans

  Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands
  Kelly Lytle Hernández
• The Invisible Kingdom

  Reimagining Chronic Illness
  Meghan O’Rourke
• South to America

  A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
  Imani Perry
• Breathless

  The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus
  David Quammen
• The Man Who Could Move Clouds
  Ingrid Rojas Contreras
• His Name Is George Floyd

  One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice
  Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa
• Lost & Found

  A Memoir
  Kathryn Schulz

National Book Award: Poetry 2022

[see also 2021]

Winner

• TBA November 16

Finalists

• TBA October 4

Longlist

• Look at This Blue
  Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
• Golden Ax
  Rio Cortez
• Still Life
  Jay Hopler
• Punks

  New & Selected Poems
  John Keene
• Balladz
  Sharon Olds
• Best Barbarian
  Roger Reeves
• Mummy Eaters
  Sherry Shenoda
• Duende

  Poems, 1966-Now
  Quincy Troupe
• As She Appears
  Shelley Wong
• The Rupture Tense
  Jenny Xie

The Booker Prize: Best Fiction of 2022

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

Winner

• TBA October 17

Shortlist

• Glory
  NoViolet Bulawayo
• The Trees
  Percival Everett
• Treacle Walker
  Alan Garner
• The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
  Shehan Karunatilaka
• Small Things Like These
  Claire Keegan
• Oh William!
  Elizabeth Strout

Longlist

• The Colony
  Audrey Magee
• After Sappho
  Selby Wynn Schwartz
• Nightcrawling
  Leila Mottley
• Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
  Maddie Mortimer
• Case Study
  Graeme Macrae Burnet
• Trust
  Hernan Diaz
• Booth
  Karen Joy Fowler

Women's Prize for Fiction: 2022

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

Winner

• The Book of Form and Emptiness
  Ruth Ozeki

Shortlist

• Great Circle
  Maggie Shipstead
• The Island of Missing Trees
  Elif Shafak
• Sorrow and Bliss
  Meg Mason
• The Bread the Devil Knead
  Lisa Allen-Agostini
• The Sentence
  Louise Erdrich

Longlist

• Build Your House Around My Body
  Violet Kupersmith
• Careless
  Kirsty Capes
• Creatures of Passage
  Morowa Yejidé
• Flamingo
  Rachel Elliott
• Remote Sympathy
  Catherine Chidgey
• Salt Lick
  Lulu Allison
• The Exhibitionist
  Charlotte Mendelson
• The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
  Dawnie Walton
• The Paper Palace
  Miranda Cowley Heller
• This One Sky Day
  Leone Ross

Cinema Scope: Top Ten Films of 2021

[see also 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
   Aleksandre Koberidze
2. Memoria
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
3. Drive My Car
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
4. France
   Bruno Dumont
5. In Front of Your Face
   Hong Sang-soo
6. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
7. Annette
   Leos Carax
8. Benedetta
   Paul Verhoeven
9. The Tsugua Diaries
   Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes
10. The Souvenir Part II
    Joanna Hogg

Special mentions

• The Card Counter
  Paul Schrader
• The Girl and the Spider
  Ramon Zürcher and Silvan Zürcher
• A Night of Knowing Nothing
  Payal Kapadia
• Petite Maman
  Céline Sciamma
• The Power of the Dog
  Jane Campion

Robert Christgau: Dean's List 2021

[see also 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2012]

1. Barn
   Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2. Both Ways
   The Jeffrey Lewis & Peter Stampfel Band
3. Spilligion
   Spillage Village
4. Sour
   Olivia Rodrigo
5. Angels Over Oakanda
   Burnt Sugar / The Arkestra Chamber
6. Peter Stampfel's 20th Century in 100 Songs
   Peter Stampfel
7. sketchy.
   Tune-Yards
8. Let Me Do One More
   illuminati hotties
9. Tough Cookies: Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts
   Low Cut Connie
10. Red, White and American Blues (it couldn't happen here)
    Nathan Bell
11. 29
    Carly Pearce
12. In Sickness & In Flames
    The Front Bottoms
13. Path of Wellness
    Sleater-Kinney
14. Live From Blueberry Hill
    Chuck Berry
15. WINK
    CHAI
16. The Work Is Slow
    Body Meπa
17. Happier Than Ever
    Billie Eilish
18. purple moonlight pages
    R.A.P. Ferreira
19. Christmas is Right Here
    Lori McKenna
20. Sacred Soul of North Carolina
    various artists
21. Encore: Unheard Recordings of Bahamian Guitar and Singing
    Joseph Spence
22. Reckless
    Morgan Wade
23. I Got Here by Accident
    Kalie Shorr
24. Me & Ennui Are Friends, Baby
    Sarah Mary Chadwick
25. The Horses and the Hounds
    James McMurtry
26. Live In New York
    Khaira Arby
27. Apokalyptickej Pták
    The Plastic People of the Universe
28. Sweet Princess
    Dry Cleaning
29. Anoura
    Anansy Cissé
30. Onetwothree
    Onetwothree
31. Psychodrama
    Dave
32. Home Video
    Lucy Dacus
33. Safe Space Invader
    Paris
34. Legends Never Die
    Juice WRLD
35. We're All Alone in This Together
    Dave
36. Things Take Time, Take Time
    Courtney Barnett
37. You Get It All
    Hayes Carll
38. Finding Inspiration Somehow
    Gift Of Gab
39. AZEB
    Mereba
40. New Long Leg
    Dry Cleaning
41. February On Ice
    Joe Fahey
42. Ladies And Germs
    Thomas Anderson
43. Chemtrails over the Country Club
    Lana Del Rey
44. Remember Her Name
    Mickey Guyton
45. Pray For Haiti
    Mach-Hommy
46. Soberish
    Liz Phair
47. Ultra Mono
    Idles
48. 29: Written In Stone
    Carly Pearce
49. Half A Hundred Years
    Asleep At The Wheel
50. Sympathy for Life
    Parquet Courts
51. Planet Her
    Doja Cat
52. Razor Blade Smile
    Emily Duff
53. The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running for Their Lives
    Anthony Joseph
54. Black Ants Always Fly Together, One Bangle Makes No Sound
    Kasai Allstars
55. bob’s son: R.A.P. Ferreira in the garden level cafe of the scallops hotel
    R.A.P. Ferreira
56. Limpopo Champions League
    Sho Madjozi
57. Tower of Age
    Lithics
58. if I could make it go quiet
    girl in red
59. Still Woman Enough
    Loretta Lynn
60. 1975
    No-No Boy
61. 11th Street, Sekondi
    Gyedu-Blay Ambolley
62. No Gods No Masters
    Garbage
63. FREE I.H: This Is Not The One You've Been Waiting For
    illuminati hotties
64. I'll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute To The Velvet Underground & Nico
    various artists
65. Georgia Blue
    Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
66. Love & Rage
    Carsie Blanton
67. Way Down in the Rust Bucket
    Neil Young & Crazy Horse
68. I Tape
    Vic Mensa
69. Music to Be Murdered By – Side B (Deluxe Edition)
    Eminem
70. Startisha
    Naeem
71. weight of the world
    MIKE

Reverse Shot: Best Films of 2021

[see also 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Memoria
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2. Drive My Car
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
3. The Souvenir Part II
   Joanna Hogg
4. The Power of the Dog
   Jane Campion
5. Annette
   Leos Carax
6. West Side Story
   Steven Spielberg
7. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
   Radu Jude
8. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
9. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
   Aleksandre Koberidze
10. El Planeta
    Amalia Ulman

Willa Paskin: The Top 10 TV Shows of 2021, as published by Slate

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017]

1. Succession
2. Hacks
3. The Underground Railroad
4. Philly D.A.
5. City of Ghosts
6. The White Lotus
7. Station Eleven
8. The Beatles: Get Back
9. Only Murders in the Building
10. Starstruck

This year’s installment of David Ehrlich’s video countdown: The 25 Best Films of 2021

[see also 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. The Power of the Dog
   Jane Campion
2. Bergman Island
   Mia Hansen-Løve
3. The Souvenir Part II
   Joanna Hogg
4. Memoria
   Apichatpong Weerasethakul
5. Drive My Car
   Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
6. Petite Maman
   Céline Sciamma
7. Pig
   Michael Sarnoski
8. Licorice Pizza
   Paul Thomas Anderson
9. Saint Maud
   Rose Glass
10. Red Rocket
    Sean Baker
11. The Lost Daughter
    Maggie Gyllenhaal
12. In the Heights
    Jon M. Chu
13. The World to Come
    Mona Fastvold
14. Procession
    Robert Greene
15. The Matrix Resurrections
    Lana Wachowski
16. Titane
    Julia Ducournau
17. Flee
    Jonas Poher Rasmussen
18. All Light, Everywhere
    Theo Anthony
19. Undine
    Christian Petzold
20. The Green Knight
    David Lowery
21. West Side Story
    Steven Spielberg
22. The Worst Person in the World
    Joachim Trier
23. The Tragedy of Macbeth
    Joel Coen
24. The Card Counter
    Paul Schrader
25. Zola
    Janicza Bravo