2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal of Excellence : the Shortlists
The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, established in 2012, recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year and serve as a guide to help adults select quality reading material. They are the first single-book awards for adult books given by the American Library Association and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. The winners (one for fiction, one for nonfiction) will announced Sunday, January 22, 5-7:00 p.m. EST, at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta. Winning authors receive a $5,000 cash award, and two finalists in each category receive $1,500. For more information about the award go to www.ala.org/carnegieadult
The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction are made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York on the occasion of the foundation’s centennial and in recognition of Andrew Carnegie’s deep belief in the power of books and learning to change the world.
Fiction Shortlist
Moonglow by Michael Chabon
A tale inspired by long-buried family history imparts the deathbed revelation of an ancestor’s involvement in a mail-order novelty company famed for ads in mid-20th-century periodicals and the family’s experiences around World War II and the space program in culturally divided regions of America.
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Two dancers with different approaches to their craft share a complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, in a story that transitions from northwest London to West Africa.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
After Cora, a slave in pre-Civil War Georgia, escapes with another slave, Caesar, they seek the help of the Underground Railroad as they flee from state to state and try to evade a slave catcher, Ridgeway, who is determined to return them to the South. WINNER (1/22/17)
Nonfiction Shortlist
Blood at the Root: a Racial Cleansing in America by Patrick Phillips
A harrowing testament to the deep roots of racial violence in America chronicles acts of racial cleansing in early 20th-century Forsyth County, Georgia, where the murder of a young girl led to mob lynchings, acts of terror against black workers and violent protests by night riders trying to enforce whites-only citizenship.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
A Harvard sociologist examines the under-represented challenge of eviction as a formidable cause of poverty in America, revealing how millions of people are wrongly forced from their homes and reduced to cycles of extreme disadvantage that are reinforced by dysfunctional legal systems. WINNER (1/22/17)
The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship by Patricia Bell-Scott
Bell-Scott describes the unlikely friendship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Pauli Murray, a granddaughter of a mixed race slave, who became a lawyer and civil rights pioneer, and the important work they each did, taking stands for justice and freedom.
