The American Library Association this week announced the six books shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, the ALA’s prestigious literary award. The medals are given to the previous year’s best adult fiction and nonfiction books published in the United States.
The winners will be announced at the ALA RUSA (Reference and User Services Association) Book and Media Awards (BMAs) virtual event on Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022, during the ALA’s LibLearnX conference.
The finalists are as follows:
- The Five Wounds, by Kirstin Valdez Quade, published by W. W. Norton & Company.
- Matrix, by Lauren Groff, published by Riverhead Books.
- The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, by Tom Lin, published by Little, Brown and Company.
- The finalists for the nonfiction honor:
- Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019, by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, published by One World.
- A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, by Hanif Abdurraqib, published by
- Random House.
- Seek You: A Journey through American Loneliness, by Kristen Radtke, published by Pantheon Books.
Each winner will each receive $5,000, and all of the finalists will be honored during a celebratory event in the at the ALA's annual conference, set for June 23-29 in Washington DC.
This year’s award marks a milestone—the 10th annual award, with the first award given in 2012.
The award, award was chartered as the first single-book awards for adult books given by the American Library Association, reflecting the “expert judgment and insight” of library professionals. Over the last decade, the award become a prestigious honor, and the award ceremony has become known for some outstanding speeches.
