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 2022

Winner - Debut Fiction

Click for a larger image of This Life

This Life
by Quntos Kunquest

List Price: $18.00
Agate Bolden (Jun 08, 2021)
Fiction, Paperback, 250 pages
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Winner - Fiction

Click for a larger image of The Trees

The Trees
by Percival Everett

List Price: $17.00
Graywolf Press (Sep 21, 2021)
Fiction, Paperback, 288 pages
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Winner - Nonfiction Historical/Social/Political

Click for a larger image of Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War

Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
by Howard W. French

List Price: $35.00
Liveright Publishing Corporation (Oct 12, 2021)
Nonfiction, Hardcover, 512 pages
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Winner - Nonfiction Memoir/Biography

Click for a larger image of Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay

Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay
by Shanna Greene Benjamin

List Price: $26.95
The University of North Carolina Press (Apr 12, 2021)
Nonfiction, Paperback, 280 pages
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Winner - Poetry

Click for a larger image of No Ruined Stone

No Ruined Stone
by Shara McCallum

List Price: $18.95
Alice James Books (Aug 10, 2021)
Poetry, Paperback, 100 pages
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Nominee - Debut Fiction

Click for a larger image of Young Blood

Young Blood
by Sifiso Mzobe

    List Price: $16.95
    Catalyst Press (Apr 13, 2021)
    Fiction, Paperback, 320 pages
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    Nominee - Debut Fiction

    Click for a larger image of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

    The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
    by Dawnie Walton

    List Price: $27.00
    Atria / 37 Ink (Mar 30, 2021)
    Fiction, Hardcover, 368 pages
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    Nominee - Fiction

    Click for a larger image of The Rib King

    The Rib King
    by Ladee Hubbard

    List Price: $16.99
    Amistad (Dec 07, 2021)
    Fiction, Paperback, 336 pages
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    Nominee - Fiction

    Click for a larger image of Reconstruction: Stories

    Reconstruction: Stories
    by Alaya Dawn Johnson

    List Price: $17.00
    Small Beer Press (Nov 10, 2020)
    Fiction, Paperback, 256 pages
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    Nominee - Fiction

    Click for a larger image of Nazaré

    Nazaré
    by JJ Amaworo Wilson

    List Price: $24.95
    PM Press (Nov 09, 2021)
    Fiction, Hardcover, 320 pages
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    Nominee - Fiction

    Click for a larger image of The Perishing

    The Perishing
    by Natashia Deón

    List Price: $26.00
    Counterpoint (Nov 09, 2021)
    Fiction, Hardcover, 320 pages
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    Nominee - Fiction

    Click for a larger image of Yellow Wife

    Yellow Wife
    by Sadeqa Johnson

    List Price: $26.00
    Simon & Schuster (Jan 12, 2021)
    Fiction, Hardcover, 288 pages
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    Nominee - Nonfiction Historical/Social/Political

    Click for a larger image of Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound

    Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound
    by Daphne A. Brooks

    List Price: $39.95
    Belknap Press (Feb 23, 2021)
    Nonfiction, Hardcover, 608 pages
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    Nominee - Nonfiction Historical/Social/Political

    Click for a larger image of We Do This ’Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice

    We Do This ’Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice
    by Mariame Kaba

    List Price: $16.95
    Haymarket Books (Feb 23, 2021)
    Nonfiction, Paperback, 240 pages
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    Nominee - Nonfiction Memoir/Biography

    Click for a larger image of Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

    Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature
    by Farah Jasmine Griffin

    List Price: $26.95
    W. W. Norton & Company (Sep 14, 2021)
    Nonfiction, Hardcover, 272 pages
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    Read Our Review of Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature



    Nominee - Nonfiction Memoir/Biography

    Click for a larger image of Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist’s Freedom Song

    Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist’s Freedom Song
    by Marlon Peterson

    List Price: $28.00
    Bold Type Books (Apr 13, 2021)
    Nonfiction, Hardcover, 224 pages
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    Nominee - Poetry

    Click for a larger image of Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth: New and Selected Poems, 2001-2021

    Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth: New and Selected Poems, 2001-2021
    by Yusef Komunyakaa

    List Price: $20.00
    Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Jun 14, 2022)
    Poetry, Paperback, 288 pages
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    Nominee - Poetry

    Click for a larger image of A More Perfect Union

    A More Perfect Union
    by Teri Ellen Cross Davis

    List Price: $14.95
    Mad Creek Books (Feb 10, 2021)
    Poetry, Paperback, 74 pages
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    Nominee - Poetry

    Click for a larger image of I Remember Death by Its Proximity to What I Love

    I Remember Death by Its Proximity to What I Love
    by Mahogany L. Browne

    List Price: $16.00
    Haymarket Books (Sep 14, 2021)
    Poetry, Paperback, 100 pages
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    Nominee - Poetry

    Click for a larger image of Tragic City

    Tragic City
    by Clemonce Heard

    List Price: $22.00
    Anhinga Press (Oct 10, 2021)
    Poetry, Paperback, 128 pages
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    Nominee - Poetry

    Click for a larger image of Sho

    Sho
    by Douglas Kearney

    List Price: $18.00
    Wave Books (Apr 06, 2021)
    Poetry, Paperback, 104 pages
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