The Gotham Book Prize unveiled its list of finalists, with 11 finalists in the running for the annual award honoring a book, either fiction or nonfiction, that is either about or takes place in New York City.
Colson Whitehead made this year’s list for Crook Manifesto, the follow-up to Harlem Shuffle, which was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize in 2021. Tyriek White was named a finalist for We Are a Haunting, which won the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize last year.
Other works of fiction to make the list include Between Two Moons by Aisha Abdel Gawad, Flores and Miss Paula by Melissa Rivero, Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim by Patricia Park, and Women of the Post by Joshunda Sanders.
The nonfiction books named as finalists are All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Brinkley, Rikers by Graham Rayman and Reuven Blau, The Black Angelsby Maria Smilios, The Slipby Prudence Peiffer, and The Sullivaniansby Alexander Stille.
Bradley Tusk and Howard Wolfson, the prize’s co-founders, said in a statement, “It’s impossible to capture the richness of New York City in just one book, but the eleven finalists for the 2024 Gotham Book Prize all come pretty close. We can’t wait to award the $50,000 prize to one of these books in the coming months, and for the first time we’ll be doing it alongside Queens Public Library—a great institution serving the most diverse place in the world.”
The Gotham Book Prize was established in 2020. Previous winners include Invisible Child by Andrea Elliott and Deacon King Kong by James McBride. This year’s winner will be announced on June 5 at the Queens Public Library’s Book Gala.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
