Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominees and 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
17 Books Honored by the Hurston/Wright Foundation in 2019
Winner - Fiction
Heads of the Colored People (paperback): Stories
by Nafissa Thompson-Spires
- 1 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Hurston/Wright Honored Book (2019)
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2018
- An NAACP Image Award Honored Book
Publication Date: Jan 22, 2019
List Price: $16.00
Format: Paperback, 224 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9781501168000
Imprint: Atria / 37 Ink
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Parent Company: KKR & Co. Inc.
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Winner - Nonfiction
May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem
by Imani Perry
Publication Date: Oct 21, 2021
List Price: $18.00
Format: Paperback, 296 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781469666099
Imprint: University of North Carolina Press
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Parent Company: University of North Carolina Press
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Winner - Poetry
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
by Terrance Hayes
Publication Date: Jun 19, 2018
List Price: $18.00
Format: Paperback, 112 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780143133186
Imprint: Penguin Books
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Finalist - Fiction
A Lucky Man: Stories
by Jamel Brinkley
Publication Date: May 08, 2018
List Price: $26.00
Format: Hardcover, 264 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9781555978051
Imprint: Graywolf Press
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Parent Company: Graywolf Press
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Finalist - Nonfiction
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
by Brittney Cooper
Publication Date: Feb 20, 2018
List Price: $25.99
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781250112576
Imprint: St. Martin’s Press
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
Parent Company: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
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Win a Free Copy From AALBC.com!
Finalist - Nonfiction
Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster
by Stephen L. Carter
Publication Date: Oct 09, 2018
List Price: $30.00
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781250121974
Imprint: Henry Holt & Company
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
Parent Company: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
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Finalist - Poetry
Crosslight for Youngbird
by Asiya Wadud
Publication Date: Oct 02, 2018
List Price: $15.95
Format: Paperback, 88 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9781937658878
Imprint: Nightboat Books
Publisher: Nightboat Books
Parent Company: Nightboat Books
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Finalist - Poetry
Mend: Poems
by Kwoya Fagin Maples
Publication Date: Sep 26, 2018
List Price: $19.95
Format: Paperback, 96 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780813176277
Imprint: University Press of Kentucky
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Parent Company: University Press of Kentucky
Read a Description of Mend: Poems
Nominee - Fiction
Washington Black
by Esi Edugyan
Publication Date: Sep 18, 2018
List Price: $26.95
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9780525521426
Imprint: Knopf Publishing Group
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Nominee - Fiction
Friday Black
by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
- 2 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Hurston/Wright Honored Book (2019)
Publication Date: Oct 23, 2018
List Price: $14.99
Format: Paperback, 208 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9781328911247
Imprint: Mariner Books
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Parent Company: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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Nominee - Fiction
Brother
by David Chariandy
Publication Date: Jul 31, 2018
List Price: $22.00
Format: Hardcover, 192 pages
Classification: Fiction
ISBN13: 9781635572049
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Parent Company: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Nominee - Nonfiction
The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke
by Jeffrey C. Stewart
- Hurston/Wright Honored Book (2019)
- An NAACP Image Award Honored Book
- 2019 BCALA Literary Award
- 2019 American Book Award
Publication Date: Feb 01, 2018
List Price: $39.95
Format: Hardcover, 944 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780195089578
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Parent Company: University of Oxford
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Nominee - Nonfiction
Heavy: An American Memoir
by Kiese Laymon
- Selected for 1 Book Club’s Reading List
- Hurston/Wright Honored Book (2019)
- Kirkus Prize Finalist/Winner 2018
Publication Date: Jan 01, 2019
List Price: $26.00
Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781501125652
Imprint: Scribner
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Parent Company: KKR & Co. Inc.
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Nominee - Nonfiction
Tigerland: The Miracle on East Broad Street
by Wil Haygood
Publication Date: Oct 16, 2018
List Price: $27.95
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781524731861
Imprint: Knopf
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Parent Company: Bertelsmann
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Nominee - Poetry
Approaching the Fields: Poems
by Chanda Feldman
Publication Date: Feb 05, 2018
List Price: $16.95
Format: Paperback, 64 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780807168295
Imprint: LSU Press
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Parent Company: Louisiana State University
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Nominee - Poetry
Pardon My Heart: Poems
by Marcus Jackson
Publication Date: Apr 15, 2018
List Price: $16.95
Format: Paperback, 80 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9780810136915
Imprint: TriQuarterly Books
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Parent Company: Northwestern University
Read a Description of Pardon My Heart: Poems
Nominee - Poetry
Divida
by Monica Hand
Publication Date: Apr 17, 2018
List Price: $15.95
Format: Paperback, 100 pages
Classification: Poetry
ISBN13: 9781938584749
Imprint: Alice James Books
Publisher: Alice James Books
Parent Company: University of Maine at Farmington