News - Literary Awards

News - Literary Awards

AN IMMENSE WORLD by Ed Yong is the Nonfiction Winner of the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. Stephen Sposato, chair of the selection committee, said: “[S]tanding out even during a recent golden age of nature writing, Ed Yong dazzles with a deeply considered exploration of the many modes of sensory perception that life has evolved to navigate the world, written with exhilarating freshness.” The book was also selected as a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction. Winners will be announced at a ceremony at the New School in New York City on March 23. Random House published AN IMMENSE WORLD on June 21, 2022.

STRANGERS TO OURSELVES by Rachel Aviv was selected as a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. Winners will be announced at a ceremony at the New School in New York City on March 23. Farrar, Straus and Giroux published the book on September 13, 2022.

THE FURROWS by Namwali Serpell was selected as a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction. Winners will be announced at a ceremony at the New School in New York City on March 23. It was published by Hogarth on September 27, 2022.

THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV by Dawnie Walton is the winner of the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award 2022. The award will be presented at The Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Celebration Dinner at the Mark Twain Museum Center on November 4. 37 Ink published the novel on March 31, 2021.

HEAVY, HOW TO SLOWLY KILL YOURSELVES IN AMERICA, and LONG DIVISION author Kiese Laymon is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. The MacArthur Foundation’s bio of Laymon reads: “Kiese Laymon is a writer bearing witness to the myriad forms of violence that mark the Black experience. Laymon’s writing across genres is grounded in radical honesty and his perspective as a Black Southern man. He exemplifies a commitment to revision in his writing practice and through his capacity for frank self-reflection.” Scribner published HEAVY on October 16, 2018, HOW TO SLOWLY KILL YOURSELVES AND OTHERS IN AMERICA on November 10, 2020, and LONG DIVISION on June 1, 2021.

AN IMMENSE WORLD by Ed Yong has been longlisted for the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The shortlist will be announced on November 15, and the winners will be announced on January 29. Random House published the book on June 21, 2022.

GOLDEN AX, Rio Cortez’s debut poetry collection, has been longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award in Poetry. The ten longlisted collections were selected by Kwame Dawes, Juan Felipe Herrera, Keetje Kuipers, January Gill O’Neil, and Mai Der Vang from a pool of 260 submissions. Finalists will be announced on October 4, and the winner will be announced on November 16. GOLDEN AX was also the headline title for The New Yorker’s announcement for the award. They write: “Rio Cortez’s 'Black Frasier Crane,' published this summer in The New Yorker, reimagines the famous sitcom character as a Black woman who is unable to shut off 'the mind’s / endless narration.' The poem, a rumination on race and class, appears in the collection GOLDEN AX, along with others that reimagine Cortez’s forebears as 'Afropioneers' who played a role in exploring the American West after Reconstruction. GOLDEN AX, which has been long-listed for this year’s National Book Award in Poetry, is one of several contenders that call on real or imagined ancestors.” Penguin Books published GOLDEN AX on August 30, 2022.

VIRTUE by Hermione Hoby has been shortlisted for the 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, which “honors an exemplary work of fiction from the previous calendar year that speaks with an ‘American Voice’ about American experiences, much like Twain’s masterwork, ADVENURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN." The nominees will be read by a final panel of judges before the winner is announced in October, and the award will be presented to the winner at the American Voice Award Banquet on November 4 at The Mark Twain House & Museum. Riverhead Books published VIRTUE on July 20, 2021.

THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV by Dawnie Walton has been shortlisted for the 2022 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, which “honors an exemplary work of fiction from the previous calendar year that speaks with an ‘American Voice’ about American experiences, much like Twain’s masterwork, ADVENURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN." The nominees will be read by a final panel of judges before the winner is announced in October, and the award will be presented to the winner at the American Voice Award Banquet on November 4 at The Mark Twain House & Museum. 37 Ink published THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV on March 31, 2021.

THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV by Dawnie Walton is the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award for 2022 winner. The prize “honors an outstanding debut novel published in the preceding calendar year. Symbolized by a three-dimensional compass, the award is a tribute to writers who have navigated their way through the maze of imagination and delivered a great read, taking the reader someplace new.” Walton will participate in a reading and Q&A session about the book on November 10 at 7pm at the James Branch Cabell Library in Richmond, Virginia. The event will also be live streamed via Zoom. 37 Ink published THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV on March 30, 2021.