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Before Columbus Foundation · award year

American Book Awards 2018

The 2018 American Book Awards went to Altermundos: Latin@ Speculative Literature, Film, and Popular Culture by Cathryn Josefina Merla-Watson and B. V. Olguín, Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation by Sunaura Taylor, City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771-1965 by Kelly Lytle Hernández, Currents by Bojan Louis, God's Will for Monsters by Rachelle Cruz, Heaven Is All Goodbyes by Tongo Eisen-Martin, Life of the Land: Articulations of a Native Writer by Dana Naone Hall, Nature Poem by Tommy Pico, Patriarchy Blues by Rena Priest, Shadowboxing: Poems & Impersonations by Joseph Rios, South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s by Kellie Jones, Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli, The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui, The Changeling by Victor LaValle, The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits by Tiya Miles and The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood by Tommy J. Curry.

Winners

  1. Altermundos: Latin@ Speculative Literature, Film, and Popular Culture by Cathryn Josefina Merla-Watson and B. V. Olguínsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation by Sunaura Taylorsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771-1965 by Kelly Lytle Hernándezsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Currents by Bojan Louissource (opens in a new tab)
  5. God's Will for Monsters by Rachelle Cruzsource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Heaven Is All Goodbyes by Tongo Eisen-Martinsource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Life of the Land: Articulations of a Native Writer by Dana Naone Hallsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Nature Poem by Tommy Picosource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Patriarchy Blues by Rena Priestsource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Shadowboxing: Poems & Impersonations by Joseph Riossource (opens in a new tab)
  11. South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s by Kellie Jonessource (opens in a new tab)
  12. Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luisellisource (opens in a new tab)
  13. The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Buisource (opens in a new tab)
  14. The Changeling by Victor LaVallesource (opens in a new tab)
  15. The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits by Tiya Milessource (opens in a new tab)
  16. The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood by Tommy J. Currysource (opens in a new tab)

About the American Book Awards

Every book the Before Columbus Foundation honored, 2006-2025. The award has no categories, nominees or shortlist, so every row is category Book, level Winner. Year is the announcement year. Sources are the Foundation's own press releases and programs (PDFs and images on beforecolumbusfoundation.com) for 2006, 2008-2014, 2016-2021 and 2024-2025. Fallback to Wikipedia's American Book Awards list for 2007 (the Foundation's poster names only the winners, matching Wikipedia's list), 2015, 2022 and 2023 (no Foundation release online; web.archive.org was unreachable). Lifetime achievement, editor/publisher, oral literature and anti-censorship honors for people, journals or presses are skipped. Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Awards and the 2021 Anti-Censorship Award are included when the release names a book (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025). Edited works list the work's author where the release names one (Jack Spicer, Bob Kaufman, Jean Racine, Lorenzo Thomas, Jose Antonio Burciaga); otherwise the editors. The 2019 Vollmann honor covers both volumes of Carbon Ideologies and is one row. Titles lightly normalized from the releases (typos such as Each Moth I Sing, Victor Lavalle and The Big Machine fixed).

Organization: Before Columbus Foundation. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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