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American Book Awards 2024

The 2024 American Book Awards went to A Shimmer of Red by Valerie Wilson Wesley, Between Two Moons by Aisha Abdel Gawad, California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline by Rosanna Xia, Changing the Commons: Stories About Place Making by John N. Roberts, Dark Days: Fugitive Essays by Roger Reeves, Easily Slip into Another World: A Life in Music by Henry Threadgill and Brent Hayes Edwards, Flesh & Spirit: Confessions of a Young Lord by Felipe Luciano, From From by Monica Youn, Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar by Barbara D. Savage, Orphan Bachelors by Fae Myenne Ng, Please Wait by the Coatroom: Reconsidering Race and Identity in American Art by John Yau, The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns, The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative by Gregg Hecimovich, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling, Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History by C.L.R. James, Nic Watts and Sakina Karimjee, We Still Be: Poems and Performances by Paul S. Flores, Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters by Lynnée Denise and Yellowface by R. F. Kuang.

Winners

  1. A Shimmer of Red by Valerie Wilson Wesleysource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Between Two Moons by Aisha Abdel Gawadsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline by Rosanna Xiasource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Changing the Commons: Stories About Place Making by John N. Robertssource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Dark Days: Fugitive Essays by Roger Reevessource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Easily Slip into Another World: A Life in Music by Henry Threadgill and Brent Hayes Edwardssource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Flesh & Spirit: Confessions of a Young Lord by Felipe Lucianosource (opens in a new tab)
  8. From From by Monica Younsource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakarunisource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar by Barbara D. Savagesource (opens in a new tab)
  11. Orphan Bachelors by Fae Myenne Ngsource (opens in a new tab)
  12. Please Wait by the Coatroom: Reconsidering Race and Identity in American Art by John Yausource (opens in a new tab)
  13. The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarnssource (opens in a new tab)
  14. The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative by Gregg Hecimovichsource (opens in a new tab)
  15. The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earlingsource (opens in a new tab)
  16. Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History by C.L.R. James, Nic Watts and Sakina Karimjeesource (opens in a new tab)
  17. We Still Be: Poems and Performances by Paul S. Floressource (opens in a new tab)
  18. Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters by Lynnée Denisesource (opens in a new tab)
  19. Yellowface by R. F. Kuangsource (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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