--- description: 'The Argonauts' and 'Negroland' also picked up prizes title: 'The Sellout' Wins National Book Critics Circle Award image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2812071cd9f4c2dd/69888b91cf40a804d7c4275c/the-sellout.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _The Sellout_ and _Dreamland_ Win National Book Critics Circle Awards by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 18, 2016 1:59 PM CUT  Picador by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 18, 2016 1:59 PM CUT Paul Beatty’s novel [_The Sellout_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1250083257/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"), a racial satire that sends up everything from segregation to police brutality, took home the top prize for fiction at the [National Book Critics Circle Awards](http://bookcritics.org/awards "undefined") on Thursday night. Another book that deals with race in America won for best autobiography: [_Negroland_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307378454/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"), by [Margo Jefferson](http://time.com/4012848/tanehisi-coates-margo-jefferson-damon-tweedy/ "undefined"), who has previously won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Sam Quinones was rewarded in the general nonfiction category for [_Dreamland: The True Story of America’s Opiate Epidemic_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1620402505/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"), while Maggie Nelson won the prize for criticism for [_The Argonauts_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1555977359/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"), a memoir and meditation on gender and sexuality. Gender also figured prominently in the book that won for best biography: Charlotte Gordon’s [_Romantic Outlaws_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812980476/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined")[_:_ ](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812980476/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined")[_The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812980476/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") profiled the two early feminists. Ross Gay was recognized in the poetry category for [_Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0822963310/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined"), while Kristin Valdez Quade’s story collection [_Night at the Fiestas_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393352218/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") won the John Leonard Prize for an outstanding first book. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4264064/national-book-critics-circle-awards-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4264064/national-book-critics-circle-awards-2016/"},"headline":"The Sellout and Dreamland Win National Book Critics Circle Awards","datePublished":"2016-03-18T13:59:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:01:30.092Z","description":"The Argonauts and Negroland also picked up prizes","url":"https://time.com/4264064/national-book-critics-circle-awards-2016/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2812071cd9f4c2dd/69888b91cf40a804d7c4275c/the-sellout.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2812071cd9f4c2dd/69888b91cf40a804d7c4275c/the-sellout.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"the-sellout","caption":"","creditText":"Picador","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4264064/national-book-critics-circle-awards-2016/","name":"The Sellout and Dreamland Win National Book Critics Circle Awards"}}]}] ```