ANNOUNCING THE 2022 HURSTON/WRIGHT FOUNDATION LEGACY AWARDS NOMINEES

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

August 8, 2022

Contact: Tracy Chiles McGhee,

Communications & Development

Tracy@hurstonwright.org

On October 27, 2022, the Hurston/Wright Foundation will announce, during their annual Legacy Awards celebration, the winners of the juried awards for books by Black authors published in 2021 in the categories of debut fiction, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The 2022 Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards continue the foundation’s tradition of recognizing literary excellence by Black writers from the United States and around the world.

More than 200 books were submitted by publishers and self-published authors. The judges – all Legacy Award honorees in previous years – worked independently of the foundation to evaluate the books for artistic excellence and contribution to the literary canon.

The foundation invites you to join the event virtually for a festive evening celebrating Black literary excellence, culture, and community. Tickets can be reserved here.

And The Nominees for the 2022 Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards are:

Debut Fiction:

This Life, Quntos KunQuest (Agate Bolden)

The House of Rust, Khadija Abdalla Bajaber (GrayWolf Press)

Young Blood, Sifiso Mzobe (NB Publishers)

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, Dawnie Walton (37 Ink)

Fiction:

The Trees, Percival Everett (Graywolf Press)

Nazaré, J.J. Amaworo Wilson (PM Press)

Yellow Wife, Sadeqa Johnson (Simon & Schuster)

The Perishing, Natashia Deon (Counterpoint)

Rib King, Ladee Hubbard (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins)

Reconstruction: Stories, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Small Beer Press)

Nonfiction: Memoir/Biography

Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay, Shanna Greene Benjamin (The University of North Carolina Press)

Bird Uncaged, Marlo Peterson (Bold Type Books)

Read Until You Understand, Farah Jasmine Griffin (W. W. Norton & Company)

Nonfiction: Historical/Social/Political

Born in Blackness, Howard French (Liveright)

We Do This Till We Free Us, Mariame Kaba (Haymarket Books)

Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound, Daphne A. Brooks (Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press)

Poetry:

No Ruined Stone, Shara McCallum (Alice James Books)

Tragic City, Clemonce Heard (Anhinga Press)

More Perfect Union, Teri Ellen Cross Davis (Mad Creek Books)

Sho, Douglas Kearney (Wave Books)

I Remember Death by Its Proximity to What I Love, Mahogany L. Browne (Haymarket Books)

Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth, Yusef Komunyakaa (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

The Judges for each category are:

Debut Fiction: Ron A. Austin, Breena Clarke, and Zinzi Clemmons

Fiction: Preston Allen, NoViolet Bulawayo, and Amina Gautier

Nonfiction: Gerald Home, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, and Noliwe Rooks

Poetry: Remica Bingham-Risher, Brian Gilmore, and Yona Harvey

Connect with the Hurston/Wright Foundation on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for more announcements about the 2022 Legacy Awards ceremony and celebration week.

About the Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards

The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation’s Annual Legacy Awards Ceremony honors the best in Black literature in the United States and around the globe. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organization of Black writers. Since then, we have recognized nearly 400 works by Black writers in the categories of debut fiction, fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and honored 97 students with College Writing Awards.

Lauren Arnold and Sabrina Ticer-Wurr, the 2022 Winners of the Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers, and Valerie Twyman White, the winner of the 2022 Crossover Award, will be honored during the event. The Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers is presented under the sponsorship of Harper Collins Publishers and the Hurston/Wright Crossover Award is presented in partnership with ESPN's Andscape. This year's virtual awards will feature musical performances, an ancestral libation segment honoring the members of our community we have lost this past year and an array of literary luminaries.

About the Hurston/Wright Foundation: The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation was founded in 1990 in Washington, D.C., and is dedicated to discovering, mentoring and honoring Black writers. Through workshops, master classes and readings, the organization preserves the voices of Black writers in the world literary canon, serves as a community for writers, and continues a tradition of literary excellence in storytelling established by its namesakes. The Hurston/Wright Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Learn more at www.hurstonwright.org.

Hurston/Wright Foundation
10 G Street NE, Suite 600 | Washington, District of Columbia 20002
(202) 248-5051 | info@hurstonwright.org

Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser

Unsubscribe or Manage Your Preferences