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


17 Books Honored by the Hurston/Wright Foundation in 2019

Winner - Fiction


Winner - Nonfiction

May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem
by Imani Perry

List Price: $18.00
University of North Carolina Press (Oct 21, 2021)
Nonfiction, Paperback, 296 pages
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Winner - Poetry

American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
by Terrance Hayes

List Price: $18.00
Penguin Books (Jun 19, 2018)
Poetry, Paperback, 112 pages
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Finalist - Fiction


Finalist - Nonfiction


Finalist - Nonfiction

Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster
by Stephen L. Carter

List Price: $30.00
Henry Holt & Company (Oct 09, 2018)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 384 pages
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Finalist - Poetry

Crosslight for Youngbird
by Asiya Wadud

List Price: $15.95
Nightboat Books (Oct 02, 2018)
Poetry, Paperback, 88 pages
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Finalist - Poetry


Nominee - Fiction


Nominee - Fiction


Nominee - Fiction


Nominee - Nonfiction


Nominee - Nonfiction


Nominee - Nonfiction

Tigerland: The Miracle on East Broad Street
by Wil Haygood

List Price: $27.95
Knopf (Oct 16, 2018)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 400 pages
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Nominee - Poetry

Approaching the Fields: Poems
by Chanda Feldman

List Price: $16.95
LSU Press (Feb 05, 2018)
Poetry, Paperback, 64 pages
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Nominee - Poetry


Nominee - Poetry