The beginning of the year brings a massive review of books released in the previous year. Already, we have exceptional winners of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals for this year. Now, both the Gotham Book Prize and the PEN America Literary Awards have also announced their finalists.
The Gotham Book Prize is awarded to the best book that is about or takes place in New York City. Both fiction and non-fiction works are considered, and the winner is awarded $50,000. The prize was created in 2020, with the singular past winner being James McBride’s Deacon King Kong. This year’s lineup of finalists includes Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle, Torrey Peters’s Detransition Baby, and Zakiya Dalila Harris’s The Other Black Girl. You can check out the full list of nominees here.
The PEN American Literary Award was established in 1922 to honor and protect the freedom of expression in the United States. In 2018, the non-profit organization sued then-president Donald Trump for his efforts to censor the American press. Needless to say, PEN America won, setting a precedent that government officials will be held accountable for attempting to restrict the press. 2022 finalists for the literary award include How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit, and The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease by Daisy Hernández. Click here to read the full list of nominees.
For more information on one of the most awarded books this year, click here.