PHILLIS WHEATLEY BOOK AWARDS 2013

The Harlem Book Fair celebrated its 15th anniversary by rebooting the Wheatley Awards.  In the past, the Phillis Wheatley Award was given as an honor to authors like Maya Angelou, Gordon Parks and Terry McMillan for their body of work. 

Starting in 2013 awards are presented in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young Adult catergories. 

The Awards Ceremony was held on July 19th 2013, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, in the Langston Hughes Auditorium at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Music was provided by Atiba Wilson and the Befo’ Quotet

Sonia Sanchez received the 1st Annual Sonia Sanchez ​Award in Poetry at 2013 Wheatley Award Program.

NEW - The #1 Power List best-selling books for the fiction and nonfiction categories, in 2013, will be come automatic nominees for the 2014 Phillis Wheatley Book Awards!

2013 Phillis Wheatley Book Award Winners and Finalists

First Fiction

• The Last Warner Woman by Kei Miller
• Antebellum by R. K. Thomas (Winner)
• Sweet Lullaby by DaWitt
• The Magnificent Life of Gravvy Brown by DeVaughn Lilly
• The Garvey Protocol by Eric Christopher Webb

Fiction

• Love In A Carry-on Bag by Sadeqa Johnson (Winner)
• A Gathering of Water by Bernice L. McFadden
• The Warlord of Willow Ridge by Gary Phillips
• Silent Cry by Dywane Birch
• Sinners & Saints by ReShonda Tate Billingsley and Victoria Christopher Murray

Nonfiction / Biography & Memoir

• Floyd Patterson: The Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion by W. K. Stratton
• The One: The Life and Music of James Brown by R.J. Smith
• The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss
• A Mission From God by James Meredith
• Gather at the Table by Sharon Leslie Morgan and Thomas Morgan DeWolf (Winner)

Nonfiction / History & Politics

• Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation by Deborah Davis (Winner)
• Out from the Shadow: The Story of Charles L. Gittens Who Broke the Color Barrier in the United States Secret Service by Maurice A. Butler
• This Fragile Life: A Mother's Story of a Bipolar Son by Charlotte Pierce-Baker
• Power Concedes Nothing: One Woman's Quest for Social Justice in America, from the Courtroom to the Kill Zones by Connie Rice
• The Courage To Hope: How I Stood Up to the Politics of Fear by Shirley Sherrod

Poetry

• Here I Throw Down My Heart by Colleen J. McElroy
• Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah by Patricia Smith (Winner)
• Thrall by Natasha Trethewey
• Hurrah’s Nest by Arisa White
• Speak Water by Truth Thomas

Young Adult Readers

• The Diary of BB Bright: Possible Princess by Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams, Illustrated by Shadra Strickland (Winner)
• Like a Tree Without Roots by Teresa Ann Willis
• Obama Talks Back: Global Lessons - A Dialogue With America's Young Leaders by Gregory Reed
• Pinned by Sharon G. Flake
• Ship of Souls by Zetta Elliott

Young Readers

• Tea Cakes for Tosh by Kelly Starling Lyons, Illustrated by E. B. Lewis (Winner)
• Squeak! Rumble! Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! by Wynton Marsalis, Illustrated by Paul Rogers
• What Color is My World? by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Raymond Obstfeld, Illustrated by Ben Boos and A. G. Ford
• Twice as Good: The Story of William Powell and Clearview by Richard Michelson, Illustrated by Eric Velazquez
• Ellen's Broom by Kelly Starling Lyons, Illustrated by Daniel Minter 

---