American Book Award Winners of African Descent

← Back to Main Awards Page
Before Columbus Foundation Logo

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.

1 Books Honored in 2026

Poetry
I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always

I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always

by Douglas Kearney

Buy from AALBC

Add to Cart — $30.00
More Book Details
Imprint: Wave Books (Apr 08, 2025)
Poetry, Paperback, 128 pages
Publisher: Wave Books
ISBN: 9798891060128

Also Available From

Amazon Library Bookshop Bookshop
Book Description:
  • Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
  • Winner of the American Book Award
  • Minnesota Book Award winner
  • A Best Book of 2025 by the New York Public Library

On the heels of Sho (winner, Griffin Poetry Prize) and Optic Subwoof (Pegasus Award in Poetry Criticism), Douglas Kearneys visual poetry masterpiece, I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always, pushes further into Kearneys long-time practices of performance typography, collaging pre-existing media sources to create singular, multiplicitous texts that defy neat categorization.

Through AfroFuturistic exploration of these techniques, Kearney presents a sustained consideration of precarious Black subjectivity, cultural production as self-defense, the transhistoric emancipatory logics of the preposition over, Anarcho-Black temporal disruption, and seriocomic meditations on the material and metaphysical nature of shadow. Engaging a rich history of visual poetics, I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always almost predicts its endurance as a visionary work of genius.

Reader Comments (0)

Log In to Join the Conversation

Commenting is reserved for registered AALBC members to maintain high-quality discussions.

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!