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Hurston/Wright Legacy Award 2011

The 2011 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award went to Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans (Fiction), The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (Nonfiction) and Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990–2010 by Elizabeth Alexander (Poetry). 15 books were finalists across 3 categories.

Winners

Fiction

  1. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evanssource (opens in a new tab)

Nonfiction

  1. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkersonsource (opens in a new tab)

Poetry

  1. Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990–2010 by Elizabeth Alexandersource (opens in a new tab)

Finalists

Fiction

  1. Glorious by Bernice L. McFaddensource (opens in a new tab)
  2. How to Escape from a Leper Colony: A Novella and Stories by Tiphanie Yaniquesource (opens in a new tab)
  3. How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestusource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans by Rosalyn Storysource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdezsource (opens in a new tab)

Nonfiction

  1. Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrellsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism by Keith Gilyardsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-hop Culture by Thomas Chatterton Williamssource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation by Rawn James Jr.source (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Indignant Generation: A Narrative History of African American Writers and Critics, 1934-1960 by Lawrence Jacksonsource (opens in a new tab)

Poetry

  1. Lighthead by Terrance Hayessource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Skin, Inc: Identity Repair Poems by Thomas Sayers Ellissource (opens in a new tab)

About the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award

Winners and finalists from the Foundation's Legacy Awards page (finalist lists by year plus the winners tables), read from the 13 Feb 2026 web.archive.org snapshot because the live site blocks automated requests. Year is the award year (books published the year before). Finalist lists for older years omit the winner, so winners come from the winners tables; 2025 winners come from the page's 2025 winner list, which names authors only, matched to their finalist titles. Categories follow the page: Fiction (General Fiction), Debut Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, plus Contemporary Fiction (2006), split Nonfiction categories (2022-2024), Speculative Fiction (2023-2024) and Creative Anthology (2024). Debut Fiction was not awarded 2009-2015 or 2019; Poetry was first awarded in 2007. The 2024 Creative Anthology winner, Sing a Black Girl's Song, is Ntozake Shange's work edited by Imani Perry, whom the page credits. Typos fixed: The Guyanese Wander(er), Victor La(V)alle.

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

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