American Book Award Winners

First presented in 1980, by the Before Columbus Foundation, “the American Book Awards Program respects and honors excellence in American literature without restriction or bias with regard to race, sex, creed, cultural origin, size of press or ad budget, or even genre. There would be no requirements, restrictions, limitations, or second places. There would be no categories. The winners would not selected by any set quota for diversity, because diversity happens naturally. Finally, there would be no losers, only winners. The only criteria would be outstanding contribution to American literature in the opinion of the judges.”

Here we present the American Book Award recipients of African descent.

Select Year202320222019201820172016201520142012201120102009200820072006200520042003200220011999199819971995199419931992199119901989198819871986198519841983198219811980

2 Books Honored in 1981

Fiction

Book Description: Set in Claybourne, a small town somewhere in the South, THE SALT EATERS is the story of a community of black faith healers who, searching for the healing properties of salt, witness an event that will change their lives forever.

Poetry

Book Description: 
A book of poems on the cutting edge of cultural innovation. On Call is the model of Algarn’s esthetics; it transcends the search for identity, roots, and heritage. On Call reaches down into the recesses of our callused sensitivity, awakens us and, in so doing, makes us part of the poetic process.