National Book Award 1937: Complete list of winners

The National Book Award made its debut in 1937 as a celebration of American literary achievement, and the inaugural winners set an intriguing tone for what would become one of publishing’s most prestigious honors. The award’s nonfiction category that first year reflected a fascination with both personal narrative and scientific pioneering—two distinct yet equally compelling forms of knowledge-sharing. Carl Crow’s Four Hundred Million Customers: The Experiences—Some Happy, Some Sad, of an American Living in China, and What They Taught Him captured the award’s attention with its vivid account of cross-cultural business and life in early twentieth-century China, while Madame Curie’s Winner stood as a testament to scientific achievement and biography. Together, these first National Book Award winners in nonfiction demonstrated the category’s breadth, honoring both the journalist’s eye for human detail and the deeper historical record.

The 1937 National Book Award was born during a period when American publishing was eager to establish clear standards of excellence and when readers were increasingly hungry for narratives that connected them to the wider world. These inaugural selections reveal what the award’s founders valued: works that educated, inspired, and provided windows into unfamiliar territories—whether geographic or intellectual. The National Book Award would go on to become a cornerstone of American literary culture, but these first winners already signaled its commitment to recognizing meaningful contributions to the written word.

Below, you’ll find the complete list of the 1937 National Book Award winners and detailed information about their achievements.

Nonfiction

• Four Hundred Million Customers: The Experiences—Some Happy, Some Sad, of an American Living in China, and What They Taught Him by Carl Crow
• Winner by Madame Curie