The novel won a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2004.[3][4] In 2005, it won the International Dublin Literary Award, one of the richest literary awards for a novel in the English language.[5] It was a finalist for the 2003 National Book Award.[6]
In 2009, the website The Millions polled 48 critics, writers, and editors; the panel voted The Known World the second best novel since 2000.[7] In 2015, the BBC polled American critics and ranked The Known World the "second greatest novel of the 21st century so far".[8][9]
