Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominees and Winning Books

Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Winning Books

The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award™ honors the best in Black literature. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organization of Black writers. Fiction, debut fiction, nonfiction, and poetry honorees are selected in a juried competition. Each October, the award winners are celebrated during the Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards that draws hundreds of literary stars, readers, representatives of the publishing industry, the arts, media, politics, and academia. Learn more at the Hurston/Wright Foundation’s website


21 Books Honored by the Hurston/Wright Foundation in 2016

Winner - Debut Fiction

Click for a larger image of Mourner’s Bench: A Novel

Mourner’s Bench: A Novel
by Sanderia Faye

Publication Date: Sep 01, 2015
List Price: $19.95
Format: Paperback, 340 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9781557286789
Imprint: University of Arkansas Press
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Parent Company: University of Arkansas


Winner - Fiction

Click for a larger image of Delicious Foods: A Novel

Delicious Foods: A Novel
by James Hannaham

Publication Date: Mar 17, 2015
List Price: $26.00
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780316284943
Imprint: Little, Brown and Company
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Parent Company: Lagardère Group


Winner - Nonfiction

Click for a larger image of Spectacle: The Astonishing Life Of Ota Benga

Spectacle: The Astonishing Life Of Ota Benga
by Pamela Newkirk

Publication Date: Jun 01, 2015
List Price: $25.99
Format: Hardcover
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780062201003
Imprint: Amistad
Publisher: HarperCollins
Parent Company: News Corp


Winner - Poetry

Click for a larger image of Forest Primeval: Poems

Forest Primeval: Poems
by Vievee Francis

Publication Date: Nov 30, 2015
List Price: $16.95
Format: Paperback, 104 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780810132436
Imprint: TriQuarterly Books
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Parent Company: Northwestern University


Finalist - Fiction

Click for a larger image of The Lost Child: A Novel

The Lost Child: A Novel
by Caryl Phillips

Publication Date: Mar 10, 2015
List Price: $26.00
Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780374191375
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
Parent Company: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group


Finalist - Fiction

Click for a larger image of The Turner House

The Turner House
by Angela Flournoy

Publication Date: Apr 14, 2015
List Price: $23.00
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780544303164
Imprint: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Parent Company: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt


Finalist - Nonfiction

Click for a larger image of The Light Of The World: A Memoir

The Light Of The World: A Memoir
by Elizabeth Alexander

Publication Date: Apr 21, 2015
List Price: $26.00
Format: Hardcover, 224 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781455599875
Imprint: Grand Central Publishing
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Parent Company: Lagardère Group


Finalist - Nonfiction

Click for a larger image of Confronting Black Jacobins: The U.S., the Haitian Revolution, and the Origins of the Dominican Republic

Confronting Black Jacobins: The U.S., the Haitian Revolution, and the Origins of the Dominican Republic
by Gerald Horne

Publication Date: Oct 22, 2015
List Price: $25.00
Format: Paperback, 416 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781583675625
Imprint: Monthly Review Press
Publisher: Monthly Review Press
Parent Company: Monthly Review Foundation


Finalist - Poetry

Click for a larger image of Honest Engine: Poems

Honest Engine: Poems
by Kyle Dargan

Publication Date: Apr 01, 2015
List Price: $16.95
Format: Paperback, 96 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780820347288
Imprint: University of Georgia Press
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Parent Company: University of Georgia


Finalist - Poetry

Click for a larger image of Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (Pitt Poetry Series)

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (Pitt Poetry Series)
by Ross Gay

Publication Date: Jan 07, 2015
List Price: $15.95
Format: Paperback, 112 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780822963318
Imprint: University of Pittsburgh Press
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Parent Company: University of Pittsburgh


Nominee - Debut Fiction

Click for a larger image of The Fishermen: A Novel

The Fishermen: A Novel
by Chigozie Obioma

Publication Date: Apr 14, 2015
List Price: $26.00
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780316338370
Imprint: Little, Brown and Company
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Parent Company: Lagardère Group


Nominee - Debut Fiction

Click for a larger image of The Star Side of Bird Hill

The Star Side of Bird Hill
by Naomi Jackson

Publication Date: Jun 30, 2015
List Price: $25.95
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9781594205958
Imprint: Penguin Press
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann


Nominee - Fiction

Click for a larger image of Welcome to Braggsville: A Novel

Welcome to Braggsville: A Novel
by T. Geronimo Johnson

Publication Date: Feb 17, 2015
List Price: $25.99
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780062302120
Imprint: Penguin Books
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann


Nominee - Fiction

Click for a larger image of Under the Udala Trees

Under the Udala Trees
by Chinelo Okparanta

Publication Date: Sep 22, 2015
List Price: $26.00
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780544003446
Imprint: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Parent Company: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt


Nominee - Fiction

Click for a larger image of The Sellout

The Sellout
by Paul Beatty

Publication Date: Mar 01, 2016
List Price: $17.00
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9781250083258
Imprint: Picador
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
Parent Company: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group


Nominee - Nonfiction

Click for a larger image of Where Everybody Looks Like Me: At the Crossroads of America’s Black Colleges and Culture

Where Everybody Looks Like Me: At the Crossroads of America’s Black Colleges and Culture
by Ron Stodghill

Publication Date: Sep 22, 2015
List Price: $26.99
Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780062323231
Imprint: Amistad
Publisher: HarperCollins
Parent Company: News Corp


Nominee - Nonfiction

Click for a larger image of Infectious Madness: The Surprising Science of How We

Infectious Madness: The Surprising Science of How We "Catch" Mental Illness
by Harriet A. Washington

Publication Date: Oct 04, 2016
List Price: $15.99
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780316277815
Imprint: Back Bay Books
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Parent Company: Lagardère Group


Nominee - Nonfiction

Click for a larger image of The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America

The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America
by D. Watkins

Publication Date: Sep 08, 2015
List Price: $21.99
Format: Hardcover, 176 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781510703353
Imprint: Hot Books
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Parent Company: Skyhorse Publishing


Nominee - Poetry

Click for a larger image of How to Be Drawn

How to Be Drawn
by Terrance Hayes

Publication Date: Mar 31, 2015
List Price: $20.00
Format: Paperback, 112 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780143126881
Imprint: William Morrow
Publisher: HarperCollins
Parent Company: News Corp


Nominee - Poetry

Click for a larger image of It Seems Like a Mighty Long Time: Poems

It Seems Like a Mighty Long Time: Poems
by Angela Jackson

Publication Date: Feb 15, 2015
List Price: $18.95
Format: Paperback, 144 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780810130517
Imprint: TriQuarterly Books
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Parent Company: Northwestern University


Nominee - Poetry

Click for a larger image of Voyage of the Sable Venus: and Other Poems

Voyage of the Sable Venus: and Other Poems
by Robin Coste Lewis

Publication Date: Sep 29, 2015
List Price: $26.00
Format: Hardcover, 160 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9781101875438
Imprint: Knopf
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann