The American Library Association has unveiled the longlists for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, given each year to outstanding books written for adults and published in the U.S.
Among the 21 books on the fiction longlist are Kirkus Prize finalists Witness by Jamel Brinkley and Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain-Gang All-Stars, a finalist for this year’s National Book Award, made the longlist, along with Ye Chun’s Straw Dogs of the Universe, S.A. Cosby’s All the Sinners Bleed, Rachel Heng’s The Great Reclamation, and Amanda Peters’ The Berry Pickers.
Héctor Tobar’s Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino”, which won the Kirkus Prize, made the nonfiction longlist, as did Ilyon Woo’s Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey From Slavery to Freedom, a Kirkus Prize finalist. Also among the 24 titles nominated in the nonfiction category are Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, by America; Viet Thanh Nguyen’s A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial; and A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars, edited by Erin Sharkey.
The Andrew Carnegie Medals were established in 2012. Past winners have included Donna Tartt for The Goldfinch, James McBride for Deacon King Kong, Kiese Laymon for Heavy: An American Memoir, and Hanif Abdurraqib for A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance.
The shortlists for this year’s medals will be revealed on Nov. 14, with the winners announced on Jan. 20, 2024.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
