The NAACP Image Awards for Literature Have Been Announced

Check out all 40 books nominated for a 2020 NAACP Image Award in the following eight literature categories; Biography/Autobiography, Children, Debut Author, Fiction, Instructional, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Youth/Teens.

There was a time when the titles on this list were quite controversial as they tended to skew heavily toward celebrity book. The choices are much better, nowadays but skew to folks willing to pony up the entry fee.

There are many great books from 2019 not on this list for that reason. There were also some odd choices like like the book, More Than Pretty: Doing the Soul Work That Uncovers Your True Beauty, by Erica Campbell being nominated in two categories (debut author and instructional). Nominees should be restricted to one category unless they are phenomenal books.  I'll go out on a limb and say I doubt More Than Pretty is a phenomenal books.

I also think the nominees should be Black unless they have written something that speaks substantively to Black people.  Two bios on Prince is one too many and not another book on Dr. King...

At any rate, I'm glad to see Black literature being celebrated. This is perhaps the highest profile event for Black books in the country.  The Image Awards were also sponsors of AALBC this year, so I really can't complain all. In fact, that is the only reason I put in the effort to cover all 40 books -- I would have just covered the winners otherwise. Several of these authors would never have been added to the site were it not for their Image Award nomination.