NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography

This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Biography/Autobiography.

Winners and finalists

Award winners and nominees

Year	Author(s)	Title	Result	Ref.
2007	Chris Gardner	The Pursuit of Happyness	Winner	[1]
	Christopher John Farley	Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley	Nominee	[1][2]
	Mike Freeman	Jim Brown: The Fierce Life of an American Hero	Nominee	[1][2]
	Rain Pryor	Jokes My Father Never Taught Me	Nominee	[1][2]
	Wangarĩ Maathai	Unbowed	Nominee	[1][2]
2008	David Mendell	Obama: From Promise to Power	Winner	[3]
	Eddie Levert, Sr., Gerald Levert, and Lyah Leflore	I Got Your Back: A Father and Son Keep it Real About Love, Fatherhood, Family, and Friendship	Nominee	[4]
	Clarence Thomas	My Grandfather's Son	Nominee	[4]
	Tommie Smith and David Steele	Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith	Nominee	[4]
	Victoria Rowell	The Women Who Raised Me: A Memoir	Nominee	[4]
2009	Diahann Carroll	The Legs Are the Last to Go	Winner	[5][6]
2010	Deborah Willis and Emily Bernard	Michelle Obama: The First Lady In Photographs	Winner	[7]
	Cornel West	Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud	Nominee	[8]
	Terry Teachout	POPS: A Life of Louis	Nominee	[8]
	LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger	Shooting Stars	Nominee	[8]
	James Gavin	Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne	Nominee	[8]
2011	Ray Charles Robinson, Jr.	You Don’t Know Me: Reflections of My Father, Ray Charles	Winner	[9]
2012	Harry Belafonte and Michael Shnayerson	My Song: A Memoir	Winner	[10]
	Condoleezza Rice	No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington	Nominee	[10]
	Dave Zirin and John Wesley Carlos	The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World	Nominee	[10]
	Janny Scott	A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother	Nominee	[10]
	Manning Marable	Malcolm X: A Life Of Reinvention	Nominee	[10]
2013	John Lewis	Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change	Winner	[11]
	Kofi Annan	Interventions: A Life in War and Peace	Nominee	[11]
	RJ Smith	The One: The Life and Music of James Brown	Nominee	[11]
	Tom Reiss	The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo	Nominee	[11]
	Will Allen	The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities	Nominee	[11]
2014	Jeanne Theoharis	The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks	Winner	[12]
	Maya Angelou	Mom & Me & Mom	Nominee	[12]
	M. K. Asante	Buck: A Memoir	Nominee	[12]
	Stanley Crouch	Kansas City Lightning: The Rise And Times Of Charlie Parker	Nominee	[12]
	Terry Teachout	Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington	Nominee	[12]
2015	David Chanoff and Louis Sullivan	Breaking Ground: My Life in Medicine	Winner	[13]
	Misty Copeland	Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina	Nominee	[13]
	Jessye Norman	Stand Up Straight and Sing!	Nominee	[13]
	Marion Barry Jr. and Omar Tyree	Mayor For Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr.	Nominee	[13]
	Rosie Perez	Handbook For An Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata And My Crazy Mother, And Still Came Out Smiling (With Great Hair)	Nominee	[13]
2016	Ta-Nehisi Coates	Between the World And Me	Winner	[14]
	Arthur Browne	One Righteous Man: Samuel Battle and the Shattering of the Color Line in New York	Nominee	[14]
	Jan Gaye and David Ritz	After the Dance: My Life With Marvin Gaye	Nominee	[14]
	Reggie Love	Power Forward: My Presidential Education	Nominee	[14]
	Shonda Rhimes	Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person	Nominee	[14]
2017	Trevor Noah	Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood	Winner
	Taraji P. Henson	Around the Way Girl: A Memoir	Nominee
	Nathaniel Jones	Answering the Call: An Autobiography of the Modern Struggle to End Racial Discrimination in America	Nominee
	Mychal Denzel Smith	Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching, A Young Black Man's Education	Nominee
	Herb Powell and Maurice White	My Life with Earth, Wind & Fire	Nominee
2018	Susan Burton and Cari Lynn	Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women	Winner	[15]
	Jonathan Eig	Ali: A Life	Nominee	[15]
	Lawrence P. Jackson	Chester B. Himes	Nominee	[15]
	Peter Baker	Obama: The Call of History	Nominee	[15]
	Gabrielle Union	We're Going to Need More Wine	Nominee	[15]
2019	Michelle Obama	Becoming	Winner	[16]
	Franchesca Ramsey	Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist	Nominee	[16]
	Jeffrey C. Stewart	The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke	Nominee	[16]
	Nelson Mandela	The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela	Nominee	[16]
	Zora Neale Hurston and Deborah G. Plant	Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"	Nominee	[16]
2020	Elaine Welteroth	More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)	Winner	[17]
	Cyntoia Brown-Long	Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System	Nominee	[17]
	Prince Rogers Nelson	The Beautiful Ones	Nominee	[17]
	Prince Rogers Nelson and Randee St. Nicholas	My Name Is Prince	Nominee	[17]
	Valerie Jarrett	Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward	Nominee	[17]
2021	Les Payne and Tamara Payne	The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X	Winner	[18]
	Arshay Cooper	A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team	Nominee	[19]
	Barack Obama	A Promised Land	Nominee	[19]
	Deborah Draper	Olympic Pride, American Prejudice	Nominee	[19]
	Willie O’Ree	Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player	Nominee	[19]
2022	Will Smith	Will	Winner	[20][21]
	Cicely Tyson	Just As I Am	Nominee	[21]
	Tarana Burke	Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement	Nominee	[21]
	Billy Porter	Unprotected: A Memoir	Nominee	[21]
	Keisha Blain	Until I Am Free	Nominee	[21]
2023	Michael K. Williams	Scenes from My Life: A Memoir	Winner	[21]
	Cynt Marshall	You’ve Been Chosen: Thriving Through the Unexpected	Nominee	[22]
	Jenifer Lewis	Walking in My Joy: In These Streets	Nominee	[22]
	Michelle Obama	The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times	Nominee	[22]
	Raphael G. Warnock	A Way Out of No Way: A Memoir of Truth, Transformation, and the New American Story	Nominee	[22]
2024	Tanisha C. Ford	Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement	Winner	[23]
	Maya Moore Irons	Love and Justice: A Story of Triumph on Two Different Courts	Nominee	[24]
	Rich Paul	Lucky Me: A Memoir of Changing the Odds	Nominee	[24]
	Nicole Walters	Nothing Is Missing	Nominee	[24]
	Stephen A. Smith	Straight Shooter:  A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes	Nominee	[24]