Living Canon

National Book Critics Circle Award 1998: Complete list of winners

The 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award season delivered a particularly striking year, with Sylvia Nasar’s A Beautiful Mind achieving the remarkable feat of winning in both the Autobiography and Biography categories—a testament to the book’s commanding presence in that year’s literary landscape. The biography, which would go on to become a cultural phenomenon following its 2001 film adaptation, tells the extraordinary story of mathematician John Nash and his struggle with schizophrenia, combining rigorous research with deeply human storytelling that resonated powerfully with the Circle’s voting members.

Beyond Nasar’s dual victory, the 1998 winners showcased the breadth and moral urgency that have long defined the National Book Critics Circle Award’s reputation. Philip Gourevitch’s shattering We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families took the Nonfiction prize with its unflinching account of the Rwandan genocide, while Gary Giddins’s Visions of Jazz: The First Century claimed Criticism honors for its sweeping exploration of American jazz history. In Fiction, Alice Munro’s The Love of a Good Woman demonstrated why the Canadian master of the short story continues to captivate readers and critics alike, and Marie Ponsot’s The Bird Catcher rounded out the year’s honorees in Poetry—the veteran poet’s win marking a significant moment in her later career.

This year’s selections reveal a circle committed to recognizing excellence across genres while championing works of genuine substance and consequence. Below, you’ll find the complete list of 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award winners across all categories.

Autobiography

Biography

Criticism

Fiction

Nonfiction

Poetry