NAACP Image Awards Winners and Nominees

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The NAACP Image Awards nominates five books in nine categories for Outstanding Literature. You may print a list of all the award-winning and nominated books. Learn more at the NAACP Image Awards website.

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Fiction Nonfiction Poetry Debut Author Biography/Autobiography Children Youth/Teens Instructional Graphic Novel

40 Image Award Winning and Nominated Books for 2023

Nominee – Biography/Autobiography

Walking in My Joy: In These Streets

Walking in My Joy: In These Streets

by Jenifer Lewis

Nominee – Biography/Autobiography

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

by Michelle Obama

Nominee – Biography/Autobiography

Scenes from My Life: A Memoir

Scenes from My Life: A Memoir

by Michael K. Williams

Nominee – Biography/Autobiography

You’ve Been Chosen: Thriving Through the Unexpected

You’ve Been Chosen: Thriving Through the Unexpected

by Cynt Marshall

Nominee – Biography/Autobiography

A Way Out of No Way: A Memoir of Truth, Transformation, and the New American Story

A Way Out of No Way: A Memoir of Truth, Transformation, and the New American Story

by Raphael G. Warnock

Nominee – Children

Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky

Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky

by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Illustrated by Daniel Minter

Nominee – Children

The Year We Learned to Fly

The Year We Learned to Fly

by Jacqueline Woodson, Illustrated by Rafael López

Nominee – Children

Stacey’s Remarkable Books

Stacey’s Remarkable Books

by Stacey Abrams aka Selena Montgomery, Illustrated by Kitt Thomas

Nominee – Children

Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas

Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas

by Jeanne Walker Harvey, Illustrated by Loveis Wise

Nominee – Children

Black Gold

Black Gold

by Laura Obuobi, Illustrated by London Ladd

Nominee – Debut Author

Marriage Be Hard: 12 Conversations to Keep You Laughing, Loving, and Learning with Your Partner

Marriage Be Hard: 12 Conversations to Keep You Laughing, Loving, and Learning with Your Partner

by Kevin Fredericks and Melissa Fredericks

Nominee – Debut Author

Truth’s Table: Black Women’s Musings on Life, Love, and Liberation

Truth’s Table: Black Women’s Musings on Life, Love, and Liberation

by Ekemini Uwan, Christina Edmondson, Michelle Higgins

Nominee – Debut Author

What the Fireflies Knew

What the Fireflies Knew

Nominee – Debut Author

America Made Me a Black Man: A Memoir

America Made Me a Black Man: A Memoir

by Boyah J. Farah

Nominee – Debut Author

Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen

Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen

by George McCalman

Nominee – Fiction

Take My Hand

Take My Hand

by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Nominee – Fiction

Light Skin Gone to Waste

Light Skin Gone to Waste

by Toni Ann Johnson

Nominee – Fiction

Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction

Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction

by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight

Nominee – Fiction

The Keeper

The Keeper

by Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, Illustrated by Bryan Christopher Moss

Nominee – Fiction

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

by Akwaeke Emezi

Nominee – Instructional

Eat Plants, B*tch

Eat Plants, B*tch

Nominee – Instructional

Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration

Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration

by Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts

Nominee – Instructional

The 5 Principles: A Revolutionary Path to Health, Inner Wealth, and Knowledge of Self

The 5 Principles: A Revolutionary Path to Health, Inner Wealth, and Knowledge of Self

by Khnum “Stic” Ibomu

Nominee – Instructional

Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self

Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self

by Thema Bryant

Nominee – Instructional

Cooking from the Spirit: Easy, Delicious, and Joyful Plant-Based Inspirations

Cooking from the Spirit: Easy, Delicious, and Joyful Plant-Based Inspirations

by Tabitha Brown

Nominee – Nonfiction

Finding Me: A Memoir

Finding Me: A Memoir

Nominee – Nonfiction

Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America

Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America

Nominee – Nonfiction

Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation

Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation

by Linda Villarosa

Nominee – Nonfiction

Who’s Black and Why?: A Hidden Chapter from the Eighteenth-Century Invention of Race

Who’s Black and Why?: A Hidden Chapter from the Eighteenth-Century Invention of Race

by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Andrew S. Curran

Nominee – Nonfiction

Requiem for the Massacre: A Black History on the Conflict, Hope, and Fallout of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Requiem for the Massacre: A Black History on the Conflict, Hope, and Fallout of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Nominee – Poetry

Muse Found in a Colonized Body

Muse Found in a Colonized Body

by Yesenia Montilla

Nominee – Poetry

Concentrate: Poems

Concentrate: Poems

by Courtney Faye Taylor

Nominee – Poetry

Bluest Nude: Poems

Bluest Nude: Poems

Nominee – Poetry

To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness

To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness

by Robin Coste Lewis

Nominee – Poetry

Best Barbarian: Poems

Best Barbarian: Poems

by Roger Reeves

Nominee – Youth/Teens

Inheritance: A Visual Poem

Inheritance: A Visual Poem

by Elizabeth Acevedo, Illustrated by Andrea Pippins

Nominee – Youth/Teens

Maybe an Artist, a Graphic Memoir

Maybe an Artist, a Graphic Memoir

by Liz Montague

Nominee – Youth/Teens

Cookies & Milk

Cookies & Milk

Nominee – Youth/Teens

Opening My Eyes Underwater: Essays on Hope, Humanity, and Our Hero Michelle Obama

Opening My Eyes Underwater: Essays on Hope, Humanity, and Our Hero Michelle Obama

by Ashley Woodfolk

Nominee – Youth/Teens

Me and White Supremacy (Young Readers’)

Me and White Supremacy (Young Readers’)

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